Lev Lexow explains Contrary to popular belief even small and medium-sized companies can become victims of cyber attacks. In some cases cybercriminals are even specifically looking for SMEs. On the one hand these have values and information that can be tapped. On the other hand their IT is usually less secure than that of larger companies. A rewarding target for cybercriminals. The greatest danger in small and medium-sized companies is that IT tends to grow with the company rather than being systematically planned. Knowledge of the systematic structure of information security structures is rather limited. The main thing is that it works is often the motto.
Furthermore IT has some disadvantages. The attacker only has to succeed once the defender always. And the attacker looks for the weakest point says Prof. Dr. Gerling. The greatest dangers of cyber attacks According to Tim Berghoff Security Evangelist at G Data CyberDefense AG the loss of data – be it through digital vandalism Specific Database ransomware or forwarding to third parties – is the biggest accident to be expected for most companies. Especially now that criminals are also data from company networks with the intention of monetizing them through sale and blackmail direct damage in the form of blocked systems or deleted data does not even have to have occurred in order to endanger the existence of a company.
But classic e-mails with malware attached or CEO fraud remain a risk for companies that should not be underestimated - especially if they are not prepared for an incident of this kind. Above all companies can take action against the threats that are based on human error. CEO Fraud In the CEO fraud scam perpetrators attempt to manipulate decision-making individuals in companies so that they transfer large sums of money abroad. The perpetrators pretend that the order comes directly from the head of the company. An e-mail query could look like this Hello Mr. Müller we are about to take over a foreign company. Due to your discretion I would like to ask you to take care of the financial details.