Top 5 Cybersecurity Myths in 2023

Top 5 Cybersecurity Myths in 2023

Cybersecurity is a very important part of the modern business world. Ensuring you’re clued up on the ‘must knows’ of modern cybersecurity will help you protect your business from malicious forces trying to damage your organisation. Without the correct knowledge in this field, you could leave gaps in your business’s security posture.

There are multiple myths that exist within cybersecurity that simply aren’t true. By accepting these myths as facts, you could jeopardize your business’s security and could cause more harm than good for your organisation in the long run — which is why being aware of the different myths that exist is vital.

In this article, we’re going to go over the top five cybersecurity myths in 2023 to make sure that you’re aware of the falsehoods that could potentially put your business at risk.

Antivirus will keep my business safe (Cybersecurity)

Antiviruses are a great tool to protect your business from malicious software that could damage your organisation. But, antivirus isn’t the only thing that you need to make sure your business is safe.

For example, antivirus software doesn’t protect your organisation from data breaches, nor does it stop attackers from using social engineering to gain access to your organisation’s most sensitive data.

By utilising antivirus software as part of your wider strategy for cybersecurity within your organisation, you can easily ensure that your organisation is protected from many areas of attack and reduce the chance of future attacks and breaches throughout your organisation.

I can just restore from my backup if we have a ransomware attack (Cybersecurity)

Ransomware is a tricky situation for any organisation — as it often cuts off critical systems that could be vital in the day-to-day operations of your organisation. Often, these attacks are crippling and can cause more than just a loss of data.

This is why a backup alone simply won’t solve every problem that comes with a ransomware attack, and so a wider disaster recovery plan is vital to ensuring that you can hit the ground running again after a destructive ransomware breach.

By ensuring that you have a good disaster recovery plan, every aspect of your journey back to normality is planned and can be put into action — which will be able to get your organisation truly back up and running without missing any of the key details.

A strong password will protect my account (Cybersecurity)

There’s a myth that if you have a strong password, your account will be protected. However, with modern methods of breaching accounts and credentials, this is no longer the case.

Good password hygiene is important to an extent, as it will prevent your account from being hacked by someone trying to simply brute force your password in. But, your password generally isn’t enough anymore — there are many ways for attackers to retrieve your credentials and use them without even considering the complexity.

Between data breaches and social engineering, the ways that modern attackers retrieve your personal information — including your password — mean that no matter the complexity of your password, your credentials will still be available to be used.

This is why lots of organisations opt for multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA solves this problem by requiring you to verify your identity using multiple authentication methods, meaning that you’ll be far more secure in the long run.

It will be obvious if we are hacked (Cybersecurity)

The notion that an organisation will know if they’re being hacked is dangerously false — lots of attacks are silent and able to cripple organisations or even larger entities without prior knowledge of the attack.

For example, the Stuxnet zero-day exploit was hidden among its target’s system for a long time, simply waiting behind the scenes to be activated and begin wreaking havoc. Lots of payloads simply breach silently, gaining more control before it’s far too late and there is no way of stopping the incoming hack.

Because of this, it’s important to remain vigilant and ensure that any suspicious activity is recorded and dealt with immediately — as leaving it too late could result in a massive catastrophe for your organisation down the line.

Also, with the rise of silent hacks like cryptojacking, there are ways for hackers to exploit your organisation’s systems silently — cryptojackers will use your hardware to mine cryptocurrency silently in the background, which causes lots of hardware issues.

My business is too small to be targeted (Cybersecurity)

No business is too small to be targeted. In fact, 45% of cyberattacks affect companies with less than 1,000 employees. Because of this, it’s important to invest in proper security measures to ensure that your organisation won’t fall victim even if targeted, as lots of smaller organisations leave the door open to a breach simply by thinking it won’t affect them.

Smaller organisations are generally easier to target due to a much lower cybersecurity budget and a much easier-to-crack security posture. After all, big corporations have massive systems dedicated to protecting their company, which small businesses simply cannot afford to protect themselves with.

Because of this, as a small business, you have to stay incredibly cautious in ensuring that your organisation is prepared for whatever comes — your company could be targeted at any time, and ensuring that you know how to protect your business could be the difference between saving your organisation and sheer catastrophe throughout your workplace.

How To Improve Your Security Posture for Cybersecurity

Security is a vital part of the modern business environment. Without investing in good cybersecurity solutions, you leave your organisation open to being breached with ease by a malicious attacker who could cause lots of damage. By cluing up on the risks that you could face, you better prepare your company for the worst.

If you’re looking to get started with cybersecurity but don’t know where to start, reach out to our experts today. We’ll be able to guide you through the whole process and ensure that you’re covered.

Contact us now and see how we can help you.