One of the major concerns that small businesses have is in finding the resources for Cyber Threat Detection that large corporations have at their disposal. Although small companies may not have the budget necessary to employ the latest cyber security threat detection for their companies, they can learn what it is Strixus does and how even a few small tweaks to their current cyber security can offer added layers of protection.
According to CEO and co-founder of Massive Alliance, Brook Zimmatore, “It’s all about learning how we go about identifying threats. If you need a place to start, there are key areas of concern.”
A Very Basic Look at What Strixus Is and Does
What Strixus does that is above and beyond the ordinary cyber security platform is use a multi-level approach to identifying threats. The actual platform is built around data mining, artificial intelligence, machine learning and human intelligence. With the speed of digital communications, data mining can collect important information in mere seconds that would take a team of analysts perhaps an entire year to seek out. Then there is artificial cyber intelligence that works together with machine learning to cypher key threats based on key transmissions.
Patterns are collected and analyzed and then bracketed into groupings to be further analyzed for potential threats where a human makes the final determination whether or not that data is indeed a cyber-security threat and then how to deal with it to prevent infiltration into the system. “As you can see, it’s a four tiered approach – some working simultaneously in conjunction with others – an assigning of ‘duties,’ if you will,” he says.
Hacking of Customer Accounts
One of the biggest threats to business security comes along with customer accounts that have been hacked. Either the customer’s own device was hacked or the company’s data bank was hacked, but in either event, fraudulent transactions are now possible because the hacker has access to the PII (personal identifiable information) needed to conduct further business fraudulently with that company or to take that information and open an account with another company altogether.
Theft of Intellectual Property
Some small companies are continually undergoing extreme amounts of research and development in an effort to grow their small business. There are ways in which hackers can breach a company’s system in order to literally steal IP, intellectual property, as it is being developed to beat them to the patent. This has happened time and again and just a look at recent news will show you that it is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Theft of IP enables the competition to get the jump on you, thereby breaking into the market and earning a hefty profit before you know what hit you.
Accessing Corporate Financial Data
The third major cyber security threat comes from hackers seeking to access corporate financial data and information. With this in hand, they can oftentimes get into corporate accounts, transferring money to offshore accounts, making it virtually irrecoverable.
While financial institutions and insurance underwriters do back a certain amount of financial loss, extreme amounts lost due to transfers can literally bankrupt a company. What if literally all available funds were transferred overnight, withdrawn the next day and then it takes weeks if not months to recover money through insurers or financial institutions? A company could quickly go out of business without the capital to meet day to day expenses and pay staff working for a living.
Although some cyber security platforms are costlier than a small business can afford, they can learn from what corporate solutions have learned in terms of where major threats arise. In learning what to look for it makes it easier to deal with them on a smaller level. No, small businesses probably aren’t going to be the focus of attack because hackers have less to gain, but they will seek out every opportunity to exploit the system which means you are vulnerable.
The bottom line is to get the very best cyber security threat detection and prevention you can afford and upgrade as money becomes available. This is an expense you must work into your budget if you expect to have a budget to work with in the future. It’s really that basic. Get protection or go under undefended.
