This is the third article in our series for National Cyber Security Awareness Month. To read the first article, click here. To read the second article, click here.

When it comes to cyber defense, small companies are grappling with a particularly challenging set of circumstances. Compared to Fortune 500s, these businesses are often significantly limited in the funding and resources they can dedicate to improving their security positions. Aware of these limitation, cyber criminals are honing in on these companies as prime targets.

Aside from their own trade secrets and sensitive data, smaller organizations need to be concerned about their connections to larger partners. In several recent high-profile breaches, particularly those in the retail sector, a small business partner with remote connectivity served as the entry point for hackers. Apart from the direct financial consequences, this kind of event can severely damage a smaller company’s reputation and client relationships, and even shut down the business entirely.

Historically, small and mid-size businesses have shown a tendency to overlook advanced persistent threats – in part because there was a lack of affordable solutions. Fortunately, there are now several cyber security options within a small business’ reach.

• Managed security services: A centralized security operations center (SOC) is often viewed as a luxury only large organizations can afford. With integrated real-time monitoring, threat intelligence, and rapid response capability, it’s one of the most effective approaches to security. Through Lunarline’s managed security services program, we leverage our onsite SOC to bring this level of protection to organizations of all sizes.

• Risk assessment: Even after implementing basic security programs, many small businesses remain unaware of vulnerabilities that aren’t detected by common scanning and threat identification tools. A deeper level of analysis is required to safeguard a company and that comes in the form of a risk assessment. While this may seem like overkill for a small company, it is essential to discover all potential weaknesses – before cyber criminals find them.

• Data breach response: Small and mid-size businesses need to be prepared for data breaches just as much as their larger counterparts. Yet this is an area where these companies are often lacking in their security programs. A business’ size isn’t an excuse for not developing a data breach plan specific to its systems, or making sure all its employees are on board with the protocols.

For more information and guidance on improving your small or mid-size business’ cyber security posture, please visit lunarline.com or contact us for a one-on-one consultation.