Although large corporations are routinely hit by cyberattacks, small businesses are the number one target. Hackers know small business owners don’t usually have strong cybersecurity and routinely look for vulnerabilities to exploit.

Small business vulnerabilities aren’t hard to find, so if you want to protect your business, here’s what you need to know about cybercrime.

Cybercrime becomes a bigger threat each year

Numerous sources have reported an increase in cybercrime since the start of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. These reports appear to be supported by the FBI’s 2020 Internet Crime Report. While cybercrime has been steadily rising for decades, there was a 69.4% rise between 2019 and 2020. That’s the sharpest yearly rise since the internet was born.

According to the FBI’s report, in 2020, cybercrime victims reported damages in excess of $4.2 billion resulting from phishing schemes, delivery scams, and ransomware. Considering not all incidents are reported, that’s an alarming amount of damages.

Delivery scams are growing

Although delivery scams have always been a problem, they’ve become more prevalent since the start of the pandemic. With millions of people out of work, some devised ways to cheat people out of money by selling fake goods or just not delivering on their promises.

If you’re going to buy expensive products for your business, make sure you research the company and check their reputation on review sites. For example, if you’re buying office furniture for your crew, check the furniture company’s reputation on Yelp, Google My Business, and Trustpilot. Popular companies, like BTOD, will usually have a profile available.

Don’t just make a decision based on the number of reviews or stars. Check into the negative reviews to see what happened and how the situation was resolved. For example, BTOD’s Trustpilot reviews demonstrate several instances of user error as well as the company’s willingness to make things right. Anytime a company is willing to make things right with the customer, you’re dealing with a company that has integrity.

However, if you read reviews from customers complaining about suspicious credit card charges right after making a purchase, it could be a sign of fraud or lax cybersecurity. Think twice about doing business with companies that have those types of reviews.

Why did 2020 become the biggest year for cybercrime?

There wasn’t anything exceptionally different about 2020 except for the pandemic. Cyber criminals were quick to take advantage of people’s fears surrounding the COVID-19 virus, which turned out to be fairly easy. The scams continued as more stimulus checks were being provided and people were desperate to get access to their funds as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, many people fell for stimulus check scams involving fake checks, fake processing fees, and fraudulent cash advances.

Phishing scams were big in 2020

Some scam emails appear to be legitimate upon first glance, but contain links masked to look official. In reality, those links go to a webpage set up by a scammer and are designed to steal sensitive information. Often, stolen information is made available on the dark web.

It’s surprisingly easy to fall for a phishing scam. When a person doesn’t have any reason to suspect they’re being misled by an email, they won’t always notice when a link takes them to an unofficial webpage. Being focused on the task of logging in to resolve a problem tends to keep phishing victims busy enough not to look at the URL in their browser bar.

3 Tips for securing your business from cyberattacks

Cybersecurity requires more than checking tasks off a list. Here’s what you need to keep your business secure:

1. Automated threat detection

Your company’s network is only secure when it’s being monitored by automated software that can identify and isolate a threat before it penetrates far into the network. Automated threat detection software will handle this important need.

2. A strong IT security policy with enforcement

Creating security policies is important, but the strongest policy will fail when it’s not enforced. Make sure employees know what’s expected and don’t make any exceptions. You need a strict zero tolerance policy for violations. The minute you give employees more freedom than necessary, you’re opening yourself up to the potential for a security breach.

3. Up-to-date software applications

Software that hasn’t been updated is vulnerable to attack. Always install updates and patches as quickly as they’re released. If you use software that is no longer supported, you may need to find a new, supported application.

Hire a cybersecurity professional

No business is immune to cyberattacks. However, you can get pretty close with tight security, especially when you hire a professional IT security team.