Blog with Rob: Guest Post by Gregg Knepper: Is my business vulnerable to a data breach?

A common question I hear clients ask is, “My business is not nearly the size of Home Depot or Target so am I still at risk for a data breach or cyber-attack?”

Yes, small and large businesses alike are targets for hackers and cyber criminals.  When it comes to data breaches, small businesses are big targets.

Small and medium sized businesses process and store sensitive information including credit card information, social security numbers, dates of birth and medical records; this type of information can be sold on the black market for a premium.

Many people think of a data breach as something that must be perpetrated by an outsider with the intent to steal information.  In reality, it’s often the little mistakes that put a business at risk. In fact, 1 in 3 data security breaches results from simple human error.  Data breaches are often the result of poor internal controls and mistakes by employees.  A data breach can occur if an employee loses an unencrypted cellphone or laptop which contains sensitive information, or even by accidently sending an email to the wrong person.

See this link for a humorous, but not unrealistic scenario in which data or secure information can be compromised very easily by an employee.

There are several ways that businesses can limit their exposure and reduce the chance of a data breach or cyber-attack.  We will address these in our subsequent blog posts.