If you thought that cybercrimes weren’t a worldwide problem, we have some numbers that may quickly help you to change your mind.
Worldwide, Norton estimates that cybercrime costs the global economy $338 billion a year; ZDNet says that’s more lucrative than the underground drugs market.And when you consider that more than two-thirds of us, according to Norton, are victims of some sort of cybercrime, it should make you want to do more than just sit up and take notice.
There’s a continual cat-and-mouse game being played out every day, with criminals trying to find ways to access networks and the information on them. IT administrators are waging the battle to stop the hackers from penetrating the networks. In many cases, they succeed; you don’t see the news stories about attacks that have been prevented.
You can help protect you business with hardened firewalls, and intrusion detection devices. Windstream, for instance, offers managed network security, like managed firewalls, and managed intrusion detection and prevention from their secure Network Operations Center, staffed around the clock by certified expert security professionals.
Of course, even the best security infrastructure won’t prevent breaches if your users aren’t doing their part. It all starts with solid passwords; Time magazine recently ran a list of what it called “the most awesomely bad” passwords of all time. Number one on the list: “password.” “123456” was number two followed by “12345678.” If your password is on the list, change it. Now. Because we may not know what it is, but trust us…there’s a bad guy who does, and who’s out there just waiting to hack into your account and your network. That’s not just us saying this: researchers at Georgia Tech recently reported, “Human error, lack of user education and weak passwords are still major vulnerabilities.”
We continuously work with our clients to help improve their Internet security and lessen the chances that they’ll be the victims of cybercrimes. We do our part, and know that our customers are doing theirs. It’s that kind of constant, cooperative effort that serves, perhaps, as the best mouse repellent out there.