That’s right. YOU SHOULD NOT BE CONCERNED ABOUT CYBERSECURITY
Despite the stats:
- In the U.S. in 2016, the average annual loss per company due to a cybersecurity breach was $17 million with the projected average cost of a data breach to exceed $150 million by 2020.
- Attackers sending as few as 10 phishing emails to your staff have a 90% success rate.
- Sixty-nine percent of organizations have experienced attempted or successful data theft or corruption by corporate insiders during the last 12 months.
*Select statistics taken from www.cyberark.com - Visit for more information.
Despite the news:
YOU Should Not be Concerned
about Cybersecurity!
There is one simple reason you shouldn’t be concerned about the cyber threats to your business.
You Should Have People For That.
Notice I didn’t say “You should not be aware of cybersecurity Threats to your business” or “You don’t need to do anything to address the issue of cybersecurity in your business.”
Any reasonable IT company should have the ability to care for the technology needed to protect your company from cyber threats, keep your business operating with backups and recovery methods in the ready, and ensure any compliance standards are being adhered to.
But it’s funny to me how many times I’ve been on calls with business owners who say something like, “Well, we are supposed to be backed up, but I don’t know how that’s going.” or “Yeah, they keep our computers running, and I think they also do something with antivirus.”
What you DO need to understand is that having resources to manage the very real cyber threats against your company is really the price of admittance into our technologically advanced marketplace.
If you don’t know what your support company is doing, refuse to take the security measures they recommend, or just don’t believe your company is at risk, do yourselves and your IT provider a favor and let them go.
Addressing the security of your business is not about knowing what it takes to keep you safe, but trusting you have made the right choice in a technology partner who will take care of you.
And TRUST requires a relationship.
It’s true that you don’t need to understand how Meltdown impacted the browser security of your staff computers. What you are responsible for is knowing your trusted partner has taken the appropriate measures to keep your staff working on what generates income for your business.
I recommend you build trust with your IT partner on a regular basis so you can rest knowing whatever cyber threats come along, you are taken care of.
Because that trust and peace of mind only comes through relationship, talk to your partner and ask questions like these on a regular basis:
1. "I heard about 'XYZ Threat' on the news. What do we need to do to address this?"
This is a super easy place to start, and a great way to build trust with your partner. Send the link you saw or forward the email and ask. In many cases, the answer will be, “We’ve got you covered.” That’s what you want to know, right? Simply asking that question will help you move on to the rest of your day. It may be this threat has revealed a vulnerability in your company. Your question has opened the door to an important conversation. That’s a good thing! The sooner you can get the issue resolved, the better.
Let me make one comment here: If your technology partner is telling you action is required and you refuse to follow their lead, regardless of their reason, you do not trust them and you may want to reevaluate your relationship. You need a partner you know has your interests, budget, requirements, and needs in mind. Trust them to take care of you until they give you reasons to doubt that trust, then adjust.
2. "I know our systems are backed up, out of curiosity, how long would it take for (our server) (staff person’s computer) to be back up and running if her system went down this afternoon?"
You’re paying for this service. Don’t you deserve to know? Even ask maybe for a one a year demonstration of “worst case scenario, show me how long until we access our critical files should we get attacked by a ransomware attack.” Think about what this does for you when your IT Partner says, “Sure! Let me get a demo set up for you.” Remember, there’s a reason they are in this business. They have invested in the ability to care for you in this area, but people don’t ask them to show you what they can do. Be prepared to tell them you’ve heard enough because... if you have a tech resource providing the demo, they might be overly excited to get into the technology "nitty-gritty." By asking the question, you might find your IT company is excited to show you just how well you are being taken care of — and that's a great thing.
3. "How are my staff doing? Do they need training? What’s your sense of how they feel about the support they receive? Is there anything I need to address?"
They are your partner, right? You’ve given them the keys to your kingdom, but how often are we afraid to ask the simple, straight-forward and important questions. It’s funny how any relationship falls apart when we fail to communicate. If this is a partner you can trust, why would you not want that relationship to continue? Additionally, asking these questions makes you proactive in how you are supporting your team and removing potential obstacles to their success. Now we’re talking YOUR JOB as the boss, right? Way to take the best next steps for your company!
4. “Are we in alignment with our technology strategy?”
This is HUGE! We set goals and budgets in so many areas, but ensuring we are on track can be a major weak point. How great would it be to have an IT Partner who set a strategy in place that enables your business objectives and provided feedback and accountability throughout the process? We work to provide this level of service to our customers, but owning your side of the relationship is important. The more proactive you are, the more successful the team can be. Together, you and your IT partner will increase in trust and you’ll see them as an important part of your success moving forward.
You shouldn’t be concerned about Cyber Security. Instead, you should be diligent to ensure alignment and trust with a technology partner who has you covered. Don’t be passive. Instead, actively support this critical relationship and enable them to do what they do best so you and your business can work on what makes you successful. Maybe you need to start an email conversation with your IT partner from one of the questions above. I’d love to hear how it goes. Send me your thoughts on our contact page, particularly if this helped to alleviate those areas where you just don’t know… If I helped you strengthen your relationship with a great partner and encouraged sleep when news breaks of new cybersecurity threats to your business, I’ve accomplished my goal.
David Grant
Digital Marketing Specialist
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT CONVERSATIONS FOLLOW-UP
Business Security
Meltdown and Spectre
With the launch of our first Business Management Conversation, we recognize that a broad conversation is just the beginning of the deeper business implications technology has on your business. As a business owner, you need to understand what your next steps might be. We want to help. One way we can do that is by following up on an initial conversation with a little more targeted information to help you along the way.
If you missed the initial Business Management Conversation on Business Security, here's the video: