Cybersecurity Threats in Farmington Hills Michigan

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Cybersecurity Threats in Farmington Hills Michigan

 

Farmington Hills Michigan, like many other towns across the United States, is undergoing tremendous technological advancement in the current information age. Notably, businesses have invested heavily in technology to keep up with emerging trends for efficiency, increased productivity, and competitive advantage. In modern times, cyber-attacks and threats have become a norm for business in information-driven societies and economies. While companies in towns such as Farmington Hills Michigan might have in-house IT staff, it is becoming evident that they need a better line of defense against sophisticated cybersecurity attacks. How can cybercrime be controlled in the current digital age? First off, companies are taking considerable efforts and committing resources to improve their data security and compliance at all levels. Secondly, there are government regulations such as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPPA) for the healthcare sector, and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union or California Consumer Privacy Act.

 

Cybersecurity Threats for Businesses

 

The growing cases of cybersecurity threats have made many businesses realize the need for enhancing internet and network security. A survey on cyber-attacks on businesses shows that approximately two-thirds of companies have had cyber-attacks within the last two years. As such the discussion for cybersecurity and lack of it are becoming widely discussed across numerous platforms including social media. Risks for business due to cyber-attacks include;

 

  • Compromise of confidential data – companies heavily rely on data in the current information age for instance marketing information and personal information of clients. Hackers could steal such information or even alter it affecting the company’s operations.
  • Recovery expenses – other than loss of information, there are hidden expenses after cyberattacks such as new training, buying security software, and the expensive and long process of data recovery. These expenses could have an impact in the long-term.
  • Damaged client trust – customers trust that companies will keep their data safe and in the event of a cyber-attack, they may decide to discontinue their transactions with the company which has a damaged reputation as well.  

 

Cybersecurity Threats Farmington Hills Businesses Face

 

Cyber security threats for businesses can be internal or from the outside in various forms as follows;

 

  • Phishing – through the use of emails and social media sites where users are convinced to click misleading links that gather personal information or company data or even worse downloading the company’s data from servers. 
  • Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS) – company servers are flooded with requests from many sources making them slow and may crash making it impossible to run until the requests have been blocked or terminated.  
  • Malware – for instance a Trojan virus disguised in the computers as a legitimate software for malicious activities such as spying without the consent of the company and users.  Ransomware is included in the category. 
  • Algorithm manipulation – as companies and their employees become dependent on IoT applications and cloud computing services, the more their data is vulnerable to attacks. Automation in companies is dependent on algorithms for interpreting and applying data.  Without regular evaluation and monitoring, algorithms may be prone to threats as codes may be compromised affecting the running of companies. 

 

Amid the increasing cases of cybersecurity threats and attacks on businesses, there is an increased urgency for strong digital security practices among all businesses. Smart Guy IT specializes in helping small business computer services and protecting the information needed to operate and continue to grow into the future.