Fact: A majority of data breaches happen at small businesses. Often times, small and medium-sized businesses lack the proper security measures and training to defend against cybercriminals, making them a major target.

Proper practices must be followed when disposing of electronic media at work or at home. Our devices contain a great deal of sensitive information, which could fall into the wrong hands if they’re not disposed of properly.

Fact: Many attacks can stem from social networking sites. For example, if your friend gets breached, you could get private message from them with a link telling you to “click here to watch a funny video!” when in reality, it’s a malicious link

Fact: You don’t need to be connected to the internet to experience a data breach. For example, your organization’s entire IT system could become infected just by one employee using an infected USB drive. Threats come in many forms.

Fact: Many cybersecurity threats do come from the outside, but insider threats are just as likely. Insider threats can have malicious intent or could be the result of an honest mistake. Either way, these insider threats are often difficult to detect.

Fact: A strong password is certainly important, but it is not enough to protect your organization entirely. Multi-factor authentication will help protect your account a step further, along with many other necessary security measures.

88% of organizations worldwide experienced spear-phishing attempts last year. While some phishing scams are easy to spot, others can be difficult to detect. Carefully analyze every email and inspect the sender, language, links, and attachments.

Fact: Paying for proper security and training is much cheaper than trying to recover from a single breach. In fact, many organizations that suffer a data breach don’t recover at all. Preventative breach measures will go a long way to help protect you.

Spectrum is enthusiastic to introduce our newest team member.

Mike Ziegler recently joined our team and holds the role of vCIO and Client Success Manager for Spectrum Technology Solutions.

Mike lives in Chandler with his growing family. In his spare time, he enjoys exploring the outdoors and finding adventures in the Arizona wilderness.

Some quick tips for securely using your mobile device include: Use a strong passcode, keep your device updated, only download apps from trusted sources, don’t send sensitive information via text or email, and perform backups.