In 2023, cybercrime will continue to be a key concern for organizations of all sizes—but especially within the professional services space. One article suggests that professional services are “bearing the brunt” of cyberattacks, and a whopping 93% of leaders from this sector believe the severity of these attacks will only increase in the year ahead.
Why are professional services so vulnerable? In part, it’s due to the nature and sensitivity of the overall sector, which includes legal and financial firms. But the increased digitization of your sensitive documents, while necessary for productivity, also puts you at risk, as does the increase in means and channels through which an attack can happen. On top of this, many professional services firms lack strong control and employ weak internal cybersecurity systems. All of this creates the perfect storm to place your firm at real risk of a devastating attack.
However, when it comes to protecting your firm, knowledge is defense. To this end, we share five cybersecurity risks that you need to be aware of this year.
Data Breaches
Data breaches involve the theft of personal or sensitive data, most often for financial gain or retaliatory purposes. Unfortunately, it’s not just shadowy actors you have to worry about. Data breaches can originate from both outside and inside your organization, whether it’s inadvertent and negligent or criminal and malicious. For example, in 2021, an employee accidentally deleted nearly 23 terabytes of important files for the Dallas Police Department (many of which included evidence for cases). Even if it’s an honest mistake, it can still be costly and damaging. The IBM Cost of a Data Breach 2022 Report suggests that the cost of a data breach for an organization rose more than 10% over the last year.
Take action: The best defense against a damaging data breach—no matter where it originates—is strong network security. You also want a system in place to monitor staff activity on the network. At N8 Solutions, we offer customized and affordable network security solutions as well as best-in-class employee monitoring tools.
Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malicious software (malware) that infects a computer and restricts your access to data, usually by encrypting files until a costly ransom is paid. Often, ransomware is deployed using malicious email attachments or links that are disguised to look authentic and trustworthy. The challenge for your firm is that ransomware can be very difficult to recognize and combat. Ransomware attacks are growing not only in frequency and sophistication, but also in financial and reputational cost to your firm.
Take action: The best way to prevent or thwart a ransomware attack is to have a robust data backup and recovery plan in place. After all, if you have an immutable copy of all your data, an attacker can't really hold anything ransom.
Phishing Scams
Phishing attacks are also on the rise this year. Nefarious actors are taking advantage of the current economic uncertainty to unleash sophisticated and damaging attacks on your business. A common scam involves a hacker sending a trustworthy-looking message that directs users to a page where they enter confidential information that is then leveraged by the attacker. The challenge with phishing scams is that they are very hard to detect, by their nature.
Take action: Knowledge is a strong defense to protect your business from phishing attacks. In a recent post, we shared three common phishing characteristics to watch for to avoid falling victim to a scam. Learning to recognize these common traits can help you and your team better identify potentially dangerous phishing attempts.
Business Email Compromise Attacks
A business email compromise attack, or BEC attack, is a type of phishing attempt that targets organizations with the goal of stealing money or critical information. Hackers will pose as someone trustworthy from within or related to your company, including those in leadership positions. The hacker will use this ruse to request confidential or financial information via email. As with other phishing attempts, BEC attacks are designed to look like authentic company emails, luring your employees into falling for the scheme. Sometimes, hackers will even breach your email system and use an actual employee’s credentials to trick your team into sending documents or payments through false payment channels.
Take action: As with general phishing attacks, knowledge is the best defense. N8 Solutions can help you establish a customized and robust staff training to ensure that your team can act as your first line of defense against a BEC attack.
Miscellaneous Cyberattacks (and Lawsuits)
Another thing to be on the lookout for this year are lawsuits that might happen following a data breach, ransomware attack, phishing scheme, or even as a result of an insider attack by a disgruntled employee. For example, earlier this year, DISH Network was “slapped” with several class action lawsuits from “at least six law firms” after the satellite broadcast provider suffered a ransomware attack. The legal actions aimed to recover losses among DISH Network investors.
Take action: The best defense is to prevent an attack altogether. This requires a strong cybersecurity compliance program to effectively secure your data from improper access from outside and inside your firm. Implementing strong cybersecurity practices is a must to mitigate your liability exposure, from password management to data backup and recovery.
It's a tricky landscape out there for organizations of all sizes, and especially for the professional services sector. However, you know what the threats are—and what you need to do to mitigate the risks. Now you just need to act! N8 Solutions is here to help you implement right-sized and robust cybersecurity solutions for your business.
Please get in touch with us today to schedule a free assessment to talk about your current vulnerabilities and how you can enhance your security, prepare your people, and defend your data.