The migration to remote workplaces has increased the interest of cybercriminals as they see it as an opportunity to gain unauthorized access to the cloud and companies’ confidential information. Businesses have to protect themselves from cyber-attacks that can negatively impact their business. 

Traditionally, organizations could set up firewalls within their office to filter and encrypt the traffic, but it’s ineffective and inefficient in remote workplaces. Therefore, you must implement stringent security policies that protect your network from external and internal threats without compromising integrity, but how does smart remote access work? Let’s see how you can use remote access to secure your business. 

What makes businesses vulnerable to cyber attacks? 

Some businesses think cybersecurity is a complex endeavor and fail to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves. These businesses become vulnerable to cyberattacks because they: 

1. Think it won’t happen to them
   Most small business owners are careful with their dealings but still think they won’t fall prey to cyberattacks. This costly mistake puts your business at risk and compromises your integrity to do business. 
2. Underestimate the threats
   Cyberthreats are also advancing technologically, and tracking the numerous methods an attacker can use against your business is difficult. If you’re not vigilant, your business can become vulnerable as these threats are still unpredictable. 
3. Use outdated cybersecurity practices
   Some businesses think their current practices are enough to protect them from cyberattacks. However, they can become outdated quickly, and the employees will not be equipped with the tools to detect and mitigate threats.  

Looking out for the most common cyberattacks 

By identifying the most common types of cyberattacks, you can easily protect your network and systems from them. Here are some of the most common attacks you should look out for: 

1. Malware
   Attackers disguise trojan viruses as legitimate softwares that delivers ransomware to a target device. Once your system gets infected with malware, it can take control of your machine, monitor your activity, log your keystrokes, and silently transmit all of your data to another system. 
2. Phishing
   Attackers send infected emails that appear to be legitimate but require some sort of action from the recipient. They usually contain a downloadable file or a link that hosts an infected file. Sometimes, the links take you to a dummy site that requires a login to access the file. 
3. SQL injection
   Most servers use SQL to manage data stored in their databases, so an SQL injection attack infects the server with malicious code to extract information. Attackers use SQL injection to exploit known SQL vulnerabilities to access sensitive information stored in the database. 
4. Cross-site scripting
   Attackers use cross-site scripting to target data stored on a website’s database, like user credentials or financial data. Like SQL injection, the attacker inserts malicious code into a website that automatically runs when a user accesses the website. Even when the website is not directly targeted, cross-site scripting can damage the website’s reputation. 
5. Denial of Service
   During a DoS attack, a website is flooded with more traffic than it was designed to handle. The goal is to overload the server and cause it to shut down, leading to a disruption in services. Attackers use malicious traffic to overwhelm the server and continuously do it until the webmaster gives in to their demands. 
6. Man-in-the-middle attacks
   Computers use a unique session ID to communicate with the remote web server. Attackers can hijack the session by capturing the session ID, which allows them to pose as the computer requesting to trick the remote server and gain unauthorized access to sensitive information. 
7. Credentials reuse
   Since organizations require their employees to have different credentials for every application or service they use, remembering all of them is difficult, and most employees prefer reusing their credentials. An attacker can easily get hold of a collection of usernames and passwords, and they can try to see if the same username and password can be used to log in to other services. 

Using cybersecurity solutions to protect your business 

Cybersecurity is the first line of defense, a combination of technological tools and services to protect an organization. Here are some of the most preferred solutions that you can choose to protect your business. 

Smart Remote Access

You can use smart remote access to create a virtual LAN to grant access to devices on the internal network. Traditionally, LANs were restricted to physical office spaces, but smart remote access leverages the internet to create the same secure connection between two or more devices. 

A smart remote access solution lets you take benefit from capabilities like: 

• Server and system access 
• Point-to-point access
• File sharing 
• FTP sharing
• Remote Desktop Protocol sharing 

Application security 

You can add strict security measures to your applications to prevent the hijacking of data and code from within the app. Application security consists of precautionary steps taken during application development and design. It also includes systems and approaches for protecting the applications after deployment. 

To protect your cloud applications, AppSec combines techniques like: 

• Authentication
• Authorization
• Encryption 
• Logging 
• Testing

Network security 

You can define stringent protection policies and configurations to protect your network’s integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility for your remote employees. Organizations must prioritize their network’s security as it can compromise their data and integral systems. Network security can also manage the network traffic and make it efficient, enhance its performance and ensure secure data sharing. 

There are numerous tools, applications, and utilities you can use to secure your network and reduce the chances of unnecessary downtime. Here are some of them: 

• Network access control 
• Antivirus and antimalware software
• Firewall protection 
• VPNs.

Conclusion

Keeping your organization safe from cyberattacks is essential; you need to take strict actions to ensure the integrity and availability of your data and applications. Cyber attackers use specialized malware that can attach itself to a device, network, or application and compromise your data. Therefore, you must update your cybersecurity practices to detect and mitigate these technologically advanced attacks. You can also use smart remote access to create a virtual LAN that removes physical limitations and keeps you hidden from other users on the internet.