Rodney Don Holder Explains How to Protect Against Cyber Attacks

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It’s a common story. A new business launches and grows profitable within their first year. The business increases its word-of-mouth and marketing to double their profits by the end of their second year. Now they are poised to become a leader in their industry. But before they can achieve this, they are hacked.

The hacker manages to disable integral processes for the business, as well as steal over half of clients’ personal information. Within 2 months, the damage of the cyber-attack leads the owners to close its doors, seeing as how there is no way to recover from the damage to their clients and to business’ reputation.

These sad stories have a simple, preventative solution, and that is to take simple measures to protect themselves against a cyber-attack. As a cyber-security expert, Rodney Don Holder offers some key insights about protecting one’s business from closure by protecting it from cyber-attacks.

 

What Exactly are Cyber Attacks?

Cyber-attacks are a new criminal activity meant to disable digital infrastructure or steal sensitive information from businesses and governments. Large organizations are able to build a sizable budget to protect against cyber-attacks – including hiring ethical hackers to look for holes in cybersecurity.

As such, small businesses are the primary targets of cyber-attacks. That means that small businesses must find effective and affordable means of protecting themselves and their clients against cyber-attacks.

 

Consequences of a Cyber Attack

While some cyber-attacks may produce only minor consequences, most attacks have devastating consequences. One common result is that scores or hundreds of clients have their identities stolen, because the hacker gathered their personal information from the business that they attacked.

Most cyber-attacks result in lawsuits and even the closure of the business that was attacked. Because most small business owners don’t understand the threat, they overlook it. And when a hacker finds a vulnerable business, they can steal a great deal of information before the business owner realizes anything has happened.

Even if an organization is able to recover from a cyber-attack, it will cost the company thousands of dollars in new client acquisition and existing client settlements. Additionally, the organization may have to rebuild their digital infrastructure from scratch to prevent further attacks.

 

Steps to Reduce the Risk of Cyber Attack

Rodney Don Holder has successfully helped a host of small businesses protect themselves against these attacks. Here are a few key steps one can take to get started.

Use Cyber Security Software

There are a host of cyber security software programs, each serving specific categories and business sizes. Before one becomes overwhelmed with the choices, they should consult experts like Rodney Don Holder to help them understand their unique needs. Needless to say, finding the right security software will both identify and fix any digital vulnerabilities that the business has.

Secure Digital Copies

Many cyber-attacks simply delete gigabytes of vital information. Frankly, these kinds of “cyber-attacks” are often accidental actions by naïve employees. Therefore, it is always best to use a good backup system so that the company always has protected, digital copies and can restore all lost information within minutes if something happens.

Enforce Cyber Security Policies

Employees are notorious for clicking on spam offers in their company or personal email inbox. That’s why smart organizations create and enforce basic cyber security policies. For example, no employee should be allowed to access their personal emails on company computers. Also, they should be trained to understand the dangers behind clicking on links unless they know for sure that those links are safe.

Use Firewalls

A common tactic by hackers is to use malware to disrupt or steal valuable information from its target. Firewalls are simple installations that protect the organization’s wireless network, as well as more sensitive digital actions like transaction pages. These pages often ask clients to provide payment or social security information that are especially private and could be used by hackers to steal that client’s identity. Firewalls prevent malware from entering these digital environments, keeping the information safe.

Keep Up with All Updates

Today’s computer hardware and software offer regular updates. While it may be obnoxious to have to regularly accept these updates, ignoring updates can lead to cyber-attacks. As it happens, most updates always include increased safety measures to protect the software and computer against cyber-attacks. Rodney Don Holder concludes that this is perhaps the cheapest and easiest way to keep the entire organization safe.

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