In a new report, security specialist Kaspersky warns of the growing threat of cyber attacks on small and medium-sized businesses.

According to the security company Kaspersky, small and medium-sized businesses account for 90 percent of all business worldwide. In a new report, the Russian security specialist warns of the growing threat of cyberattacks against such companies.

tactics

Criminals use different ways to get hold of the data of small and medium-sized businesses:

• Exploit vulnerabilities in software
• Phishing Emails
• Misleading Text Messages
• Seemingly harmless YouTube links

In the first five months of this year, these companies have already processed more than 764,000 malicious files worldwide.

The biggest threat comes from online vulnerabilities, accounting for 63 percent of cases. Criminals mainly use them to install malware that they can use in a company’s system.

Phishing also remains a popular way to install malware on a system via fake links. Common examples are fake messages from a bank or messages that appear to be from a transportation service provider.

Kaspersky is also noticing a new trend, namely smishing. This is a combination of SMS and phishing, in which criminals try to manipulate employees’ devices via fake text messages. This happens not only via SMS, but also on WhatsApp, Messenger, WeChat or other communication platforms.

For example, last year the company warned of some sort of WhatsApp clone trying to take over your account.

solutions

This report underscores once again the importance of investing in good cybersecurity. This means not only software and hardware, but also raising employee awareness and training. The human factor remains a key vulnerability in every link in a company’s chain.

Last month it was revealed that anyone can be a victim of a cyber attack when it was revealed that Kaspersky itself had been hacked. The attack in question was carried out using the iPhones of several employees.