Top 3 Endpoint Security Threats Posing Huge Risk for SMEs

With the ever-increasing rate of cyber threats, ensuring endpoint security is becoming a major challenge for small and medium-sized businesses. Weakly connected nodes, software vulnerabilities, and several other factors make it tough for businesses to protect their data from cyber attackers. However, with appropriate knowledge about how endpoint threats make their way to enterprise data, businesses can save themselves from data breaches. Let’s discuss the top 3 endpoint security threats:

Phishing

It’s a malicious attempt made by cyber attackers to steal sensitive information from a target. There are various strategies used to make phishing attempts including:

• Emails with malicious attachments are sent by phishers to users, clicking upon which the user gets redirected to a malicious website or malware gets automatically installed on the system.
• Email messages that pretend to be from a trusted source such as bank, office, a friend, etc. ask for sensitive information from the target. The information could be anything personal like bank account number, ATM PIN, home/office address, social media passwords, etc. These type of emails generally ask the user to reply immediately, so that the target shares his information without thinking much.

Read this post to learn more about phishing emails – Different Types of Email Phishing Scams

Software Vulnerabilities

• Ignoring software updates make the software vulnerable to cyber threats. Since these updates protect the software against new threats, ignoring them increases the likelihood of becoming the target of hackers easily.
• Downloading software from an untrusted source makes a machine more open to attacks. Also, software programs that are available for free are generally laced with malicious content. Installation of such programs corrupts the target’s computer in several ways.

Malvertising

• Online advertisements laced with malware are placed on websites, even the legitimate ones. Whenever a user clicks on such an ad, it infects the computer system through some auto-run malware. Even legitimate adverts can be hacked and infected with malware.  

Ways to Enterprise Security

• Total security antivirus protection is must for a company. Also, one should invest in a reliable security solution. Going for free or cheap security software might not provide you with adequate and latest security features.
• Installation of software updates should be a regular routine. Not just the infosec department, but all employees of an organization need to keep their software up-to-date.
• Information Security Awareness among employees is crucial for the security of the enterprise data. Awareness training should be provided time-to-time in order to keep them updated.