Small Business Paper 1 Over the last few years major retail companies have been hacked. Target, Sony and even Walmart, you may think that only big name companies get hacked. But to be honest small business are the major target of hackers because they do not have the resource or knowledge as the top dogs. According to Symantec Threat Report 82% of stolen information could have been protected if business had and follow a security plan. So what are some threats that small business face today, for example let’s take a look at a kiosk at a shopping center. Kiosk’s is an 8 billion dollar industry in the United States, the average mall has 20 kiosk and they sell apparel, cell phone and accessories all the way down to home décor. Why are kiosks at the mall so vulnerable to system threat? Because most of them us an iPad or computer to make their daily transactions. Let’s take a look at some of the threats a kiosk had to deal with. Number one since they use a computer or iPad that’s need to be connected to a network this alone is a huge threat because hackers can easily hack the network and get customers financial information. According to Symantec/Small Business Technology Institute Study 60% of small business have open wireless networks. This leads me to the second threat that a small business can get is a malicious code. Small businesses try to save money so they don’t really think about an anti-spyware program or anti-virus because of this the system is defenseless against a malicious code. Business owners need to check there system to make sure is up date with the most recent patches so they don’t fall victim to a malicious code. If you’re like me you get tons of emails daily from different online stores. This is how companies keep their customers by offering daily deals or sales. A kiosk email can easily be hacked and the hacker can gain access to customer’s information and start spear phishing. Spear phishing is one of the most common scam a hacker uses to try to get a person to give them their personal information. To make sure this does not happen to a small business they need to let their employers know what a spear phishing attack is and to report anything that looks suspicious. The second to last threat a business can face is a disgruntled employee or someone that just got fired and wants to get pay back. This person has the codes to your system and even money safe. In order to prevent such thing make sure you split responsibility amongst employers , implement a strict password and authentication policy, change the password to the system after an employee leaves the business and the most important part run a background check on the person you plan on hiring. Finally the biggest of them all a lost or stolen IPad, laptop or computer, kiosk now a days use an iPad. If your kiosk is busy the employer might forget to lock the IPad or the register someone can easily walk up and take whatever was left unattended. To make sure this does not happen they need to make sure the customers information is encrypted so in the case something gets stolen the hacker can’t get to the information without a password. In conclusion a business in general needs to educate their employees of the daily threats a company faces when it comes to the internet. They need to spend more money and time securing there customers information, because without a customer they won’t be successful.

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