Recent reports indicate that at least 60 percent of businesses in America face cyber threats, and nearly 90 percent store sensitive customer information that could be compromised due to data breaches. While major corporations are often the targets of malicious activity, small businesses tend to be targeted the most. Despite the potential dangers, more than 30 percent of small businesses say they’re not concerned about cyberattacks, and more than half have no cybersecurity measures in place to protect themselves and their customers.
Understanding the Dangers of Inadequate Access Control
Cyber threats can come from numerous sources, and being prepared for all eventualities is difficult if not impossible. Still, it’s possible to thwart the majority of attacks and minimize risks for businesses of all sizes. Many of the common risks come from inadequate digital and virtual gatekeeping. Consider some of the dangers of failing to implement proper access control measures.
Increased Risk of Data Breaches
On the most basic level, not having the right access control measures in effect greatly increases the risk of data breaches. It allows unauthorized people to more easily access a business’s information. Once they get their hands on that data, they’ll use it to their own benefit with no regard for how their actions affect the business, its employees, and its customers. Furthermore, having few or no access control measures in place gives wrongdoers virtually unlimited access once they’re inside.
Greater Risks of Inside Threats
Many people think of data breaches as coming from outside sources. Unfortunately, research shows that 60 percent of threats, if not more, actually stem from inside sources. In many instances, employees unintentionally place their employers’ sensitive information at risk by opening malicious emails, sharing their access credentials with people they mistakenly trust, and sharing inside information with the wrong people.
Besides those risks, disgruntled employees may deliberately steal information or sabotage businesses’ files and systems. When employees are terminated, they may still be able to access their former employers’ information long after the fact without proper access control. When breaches like those take place, having inadequate security measures makes it difficult to track access back to its source and mitigate the resulting damage.
Threatening Business Continuity
Additionally, inadequate access control can pose a threat to business continuity. Data breaches can compromise businesses’ operating systems and files, their backup and recovery systems, and their supply chains along with other essential aspects. The further those attacks go, the more difficult recovering from them can be. That can lead to extensive downtime and even complete shutdowns in many cases.
Protecting Businesses Against Data Breaches
Data breaches are becoming increasingly common, and they can have far-reaching consequences for businesses as well as their employees and members of their supply chains. Though many threats come from outside sources, quite a few originate internally. Access control measures can prevent dangers from both angles. At the same time, they can limit the damage caused by data breaches when they do occur. While many businesses ignore the potential risks of not having adequate access control measures in place, they generally come to regret that decision.
