With over 20 years of experience, Senthil Ramakrishnan, who leads AT&T’s Cybersecurity Product Strategy, has seen attacks become more and more sophisticated, and urges small business owners not to fall into the trap of believing that they are too small to be targeted by criminals. “More than 40 percent of attacks target SMBs,” he told Entrepreneur.
How big a problem is this? “Cybersecurity Ventures projects global cybercrime damages to reach $12 trillion by 2030,” answered Ramakrishan.
What are some of the best practices to protect yourself? “Start with your network,” suggests Ramakrishan. “Think of your business as a house, and your network as your front gate. You wouldn’t wait until an intruder is at your doorstep to act — you’d want security at the perimeter, stopping threats before they get close. The same concept applies to cybersecurity — securing the network at the first entry point is the most effective way for SMBs to reduce risk without adding complexity. This strategy allows businesses to block up to 97 percent of malicious traffic before it ever even enters their network.”
What is a misstep you see many SMBs making? “We see many businesses trying to solve security gaps by buying insurance, but insurance doesn’t prevent an attack,” said Ramakrishan. “If you don’t know your risk posture, you won’t know how to defend against threats effectively.”
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