Top-4 Cybersecurity Threats Faced by Small Businesses And How You Can Prevent It

Be it a small business or an enterprise, cybersecurity threats possess the same amount of risk. There is a common myth that exists that a small business can’t become a potential target of any cybersecurity; however, this is not the case.

With an increasing number of automated cyberattacks rising every day, it has allowed small businesses to serve as soft-targets. When compared to larger enterprises, small businesses are low on resources and often don’t tend to invest quite extensively on security technologies. Due to the lack of dedicated and stringent cybersecurity measures, it makes them an easier target of cybercriminals.

A cyberattack can result in a damaged image for such business and its post-effects can be quite devastating. An online report states that a small business with an employee cap less than 500, tend to lose around $2.5 million after every cyberattack. Losing out such a huge amount of money can be financially demotivating for any small business. Keeping in mind all these reasons, small businesses must make sure that they’re aware of these threats and how they can stop them in the initial stages. 

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How to Protect Your Organization’s Online Presence from Phishing Scams

The dawn of digital transformation has taken the internet by storm with the growing number and sophistication of phishing scams. Long back in 1996, phishing scams involved fooling people through messages pretending to be the authentic source. People those days fell prey to such scams and shared their account details and billing information. Though the strategies have become outdated today and we believe we can’t be fooled with such techniques, Phishing remains as popular as ever. 

Over the years, Phishing has transformed drastically from simple messaging to spooky emails. There is no end to the rising number of phishing scams through emails with fake IDs, driving to the malicious website that appears to be similar to the one it is imitating. The hackers are sneaking into your email conversations with previously compromised email accounts, replying to your mail threads with malicious links or attachments trying to acquire confidential information of your company.

Source: https://bit.ly/2TBKCMR

With time the threat actors are turning out to be more precisewith their target audience. Spear Phishing targets known individuals to lure them, observing their online activities and imitating the websites they are accessing. Whaling is more precise, which targets executives at higher positions. Both techniques involve a huge amount of research and observation to entice the targets to open the fraudulent emails. There is a thin line of difference between Spear Phishing and Whaling. Spear Phishing is used to target an individual while Whaling targets an organization’s top level executives. Scammers popularly use whaling to acquire the organization’s valuable information which comprises of trade secrets and passwords credentials to administrative company accounts.

Though the digital era demands the use of advanced technologies like IoT, AI, Cloud Computing; security becomes a major concern here. In the present scenario, while we all are working in the extended perimeters of our homes, no one wants to fall prey to phishing scams.

Let’s have a look at the preventive measures to be taken to secure your organization’s online presence from phishing scams.

1.       Build a Cybersecurity Awareness Training Program:

The organizations Cyber security is as strong as the weakest employee of the company. A security breach is likely to occur due to human negligence rather than cyber-attack. Conduct Cyber security awareness training program and educate your employees about the phishing trends and tactics to spot them. The training session will ensure use of approved software and strong passwords in the organization. Enlighten the employees on the Cyber security strategies and multi-factor authentication to protect the business data from top 10 OWASP vulnerabilities.

2.       Install an Anti-Phishing Toolbar:

According to experts, 97% of Internet consumers within an organization fail to identify sophisticated phishing emails. Deploying anti-phishing tool is a comprehensive anti-phishing solution that delivers detailed information of the website you are browsing on the internet preventing such scams. The toolbar secures your business information with routine checks of the visited sites comparing them with the known phishing sites in their database.

While browsing through the internet, if the user accidentally lands to a malicious site, the toolbar sets an alert.

These toolbars are offered by most of the popular browsers with no extra cost. To secure your organization’s confidential information, the decision makers should install the anti-phishing toolbar to keep a track of your website security. It verifies the email content, attached files, and other information securing your online presence from web spoofing or phishing.

ESDSVTMScan is a vulnerability scanning tool regularly notifying you of the security lapse, thus Securing your organization from a security breach. 

1.       Use Web Application Firewalls:

The web application firewalls act as a barrier to phishing scams. Most of the organizations use Web Application Firewall as a defense tool between their business website and the internet traffic, safeguarding the online presence against malicious intruders. The internet traffic consists of malicious requests which might be spoofed emails, messages, requests from fraudulent websites. So, deploying a WAF secures your online presence from these Cyber security attacks and malicious actors.

This indispensable part of the web application security strategy identifies and patches the vulnerabilities in applications and servers, blocking malicious actors from finding these loopholes. ESDS eNlight WAF is a specially engineered intelligent Cloud Hosted Web Application Firewall that protects your web applications from threats/attacks. Protect your online presence against these spoofed requests with ESDS eNlight WAF.

1.       Detect Potential Threats with AI and ML:

With sophistication of cyber threats, Cyber security is also evolving at a rapid pace. AI and ML can analyze the user behavior and proactively detect the threats thus assisting your organization in Cyber security war. The advanced technology solutions like AI and ML trace the anomalies and warning signals for phishing throughout the email. AI examines the email message based on the context comparing it with previous phishing scams.

2.       Endpoint Monitoring and Protection:

No doubt at workplace employees tends to make use of their personal devices. The rising use of these devices introduces a number of fresh endpoints which need to be protected under IT security system. At workplace there are certain devices with compromised security, monitoring and protecting them becomes a crucial task. Monitor such endpoints and offer remediation for compromised devices to prevent the explosion of attack through these unmanaged devices.

Wrap Up

The dawn of the digital era has taken the internet by storm with the rising number of Internet consumers and sophistication of phishing scams. The scammers are innovating unique strategies to sneak into your email conversation and India ranks 3^rd after Canada and the United States for Phishing scams. The above-mentioned techniques will help you secure online presence of your organization from Phishing Scams.

Companies like ESDS – The Digital Transformation Catalyst are finding new ways to defend your online presence with the help of advanced technological solutions to fight against the sophisticated scammers. ESDS eNlight WAF, ESDS eNlight WebVPN, and VTMScan are the Made in India security tools to guard your online presence.

For further queries, you can connect to us at getintouch@esds.co.in | 1800 209 3006

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT BROKEN AUTHENTICATION AND SESSION BREACH?

As we are covering OWASP top 10 vulnerabilities,broken authentication is one of it. Broken Authentication itself suggests the breach in the authentication procedure of a web application. Session management is the rule which checks for the interactions amid a web application and end-users. A web session is actually a transactional chain of HTTP commands and responses made by the client to a server. HTTP/HTTPS is the protocol to communicate between the website and the browser.

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Why Protection From LFI And RFI Attacks Is Also Important?

This is an era where you have to be more thoughtful about every single attack: be it a second or a minute. But we often pay attention to the bigger attacks and ignore the simplest and less vulnerable attacks. Even if they don’t get publicity in the headlines, they are still very disastrous. LFI (Local File Execution) and RFI (Remote File Execution) attacks are such threats. They are quite similar to the treacherous and notorious XSS attacks because they use the same formula: Code Injection technique. LFI and RFI attacks are less sophisticated and therefore, are easily controllable. Although, if the security brigade doesn’t take it seriously then that can prove quite evil. More than 23% of people witnessed web application attacks were LFI and RFI attacks.

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Viruses, Malwares and Protection of Systems and Web Assets

To understand the difference between Antivirus and Anti-Malware, it is necessary to first understand what a virus is and what a malware is. It might sound simple, but it is a confusing matter for those who are trying to deploy security systems for their home PCs or event vast IT infrastructures.

 What is a virus? 

A computer virus is much like the flu virus (where it derives its name from) that spreads from system to system and has an ability to duplicate itself. Executed intentionally or unintentionally it modifies other computer programs by inserting its own code and causing unexpected and damaging effects. It is basically a malicious program and thus can be categorized as malware. Virus which is a type of malware – malicious software – is a term that is widely used by the public. It rose to fame in late in the 90s and has affected almost half of the world’s computers and systems at some point or the other, claims a report. Now, let’s understand what is a malware…

 What is malware? 

As mentioned above, it is any unwanted malicious code that is designed to harm and contaminate the host system. It can include everything from viruses, spyware, Trojans, worms, adware, nagware and others. It also includes an advances malware called ransomware that is used to commit virtual financial frauds. Let us look at some of the above threats in short…

Spyware: This malicious software is installed on a computing device without the knowledge of the end-user to track his or her activities. Deriving its name from spying, this software does exactly that and gather information about the person or organization and sends it to the attackers without any consent or permission of the user. Tojans, adware, cookies, key loggers are certain types of spyware.

Trojans: This word comes from the deceptive Trojan horse that was used as a subterfuge by the Greeks to smuggle an army into the impenetrable city of Troy. Likewise, a computer Trojan Horse enters a system by establishing utmost trust but then perform mischievous activities like stealing information, taking over the system, making network source unavailable, etc.

Worms: The primary function of a computer worm is to infect other computers and remain active of these systems. They might not steal anything but definitely cause harm to the system by consuming bandwidth or destroying files,

Adware: This advertising-support software is the most annoying malware ever since it presents ads that users encounter while installing something. It is programmed to generate revenue for the creator by supplying him information on the type of sites the user visits and thus present him related content. Not all of it causes any harm but can be affect your computer’s performance.

Now that we know the difference between malware and virus, it will be easier to understand what is Antivirus and Anti-malware. When these harmful programs enter your systems they can do a lot of damage. Apart from spoiling your programs, they can also steal from you by getting illegal access to your financial details online. Thus, software and IT companies have come up with various types of tools that can help prevent or resolve such infections. Antivirus software gained super popularity when viruses started affecting systems all over the world. They help erect a shield of protection around your systems so that viruses cannot get in. Similarly, there are many anti-malware software which are believed to provide wider protection. However, since malware is a broader term, it is important to understand which software helps with what kinds of malware.

For example, a certain software can scan your system for as much as possible but can it provide protection against malwares that affect your PCs when you are surfing, installing applications and opening files. While another software can give you an on-access antivirus scan another can provide and on-demand anti-malware scan and cover all your fronts. The tool also needs to be updated with all the new security issues that are popping up daily across the World Wide Web.

Scanning Tools 

There are many tools available in the market that can scan your systems for viruses and malware. A certain combination of tools is always helpful to cover all corners and get protection against most types of malicious software in case you are a data-critical organization. Various options include Norton, McAfee, Avast and others. While these will provide you a cover for your system, what about your websites and applications?

Web Assets & Scanning 

In case you are an entrepreneur or a well-established enterprise, most of your business and reputation is governed by your online presence. Your website is proof of your service and securing it is as important as ground security that an office employs. Today, robbers are not attacking banks or offices, they are attacking the websites of these banks and offices to steal critical data virtually. These attacks can take place when hackers can spot vulnerabilities in your sites. A survey by White Hat Server Security demonstrates that 86 per cent of all websites have at least one serious vulnerability. So what can you do? Plug in the loopholes by installing a premium web application scanner that comes in flexible packages and provides you with instant hourly, daily, weekly or monthly report on real-time basis.

All virtual world threats need to be systematically tackled with through a brainstormed security infrastructure inclusive of Server and Network Isolation, High End Cisco anomaly guards, Cisco Firewall, Anti-virus, Anti-spoof technology, Private VLANs, SSL Certificate, and more. It is necessary that organizations have the required tools to dissuade all efforts to compromise customer data.

ESDS’ MTvScan – Malware, threat and security scanner -- has been developed specifically to safeguard web assets. Tools like MTvScan are growing popular among organizations since they can detect thousands of types of malware. Equipped deep and proof-based scanning, the MTvScan software performs activities like robust link crawling, banner grabbing, CMS detection, Malware Scan including page defacement, JS Codes, Iframe check, etc., Content Change Monitoring, OWAS Audit, LFI RFI detection, domain reputation checks, SSL Scan and phishing. 

Audit Your Web Security with MTvScan Vulnerability Scanner

Your website is your brand and a virtual store for your business, but due to lack of awareness of the risks and consequences, one might face serious issues if the website is not protected. Business relations can suffer if your first point of contact – the website -- is not safe and secure. Cyber-attacks being reported every day because of the increasing amounts of vulnerable websites. However, the number of efforts being taken by the owners to stay ahead of the curve are not many. Hackers mainly use automated tools to find vulnerable sites no matter the size of the business. Small business owners don’t usually think about security for their website as they don’t see the importance of it. So they don’t set aside the funds and resources needed to safeguard their web presence.

You have spent countless hours of hard work on writing, designing and promoting your website and its content. You have a thriving business because your website is generating leads and eventually revenue. But what if suddenly, one day you lose your control on this website and all the hard work along with it? This scenario is very realistic and it could happen to you one day. You should know the importance of auditing your website for various types of threats like – malware in the website which will also affect site visitors, theft of customer’s data, retrieving client’s name and email addresses and even hijacking or crashing the site.


Protecting your website at all costs should be your agenda and with MTvScan, you can scan for each and every vulnerability in your website. Regularly scanning your website will ensure that there are zero issues in your site and you can smoothly run your business. MTvScan is a complete and advanced vulnerability scanner which examines different types of vulnerabilities in the purview of lurking danger.

The features of MTvScan are as follows:

1. Mail server IP Check in 58 RBL repositories
2. Scan SQL Injections for MySQL, MSSQL, PGSQL, Oracle databases
3. Domain reputation in Google, SURBL, Malware Patrol, Clean-Mx, Phishtank
4. Scan Local file injections (LFI)
5. Scan Remote file inclusion (RFI)
6. Scan XSS - Cross Site Scripting
7. Scan Malware
8. Detect and Scan CMS
9. Open Port Application Vulnerability detection
10. Directory Scanning
11. Detect open sensitive / admin area of the site
12. Scan for Directory Indexing
13. Scan Full Path disclosure in the pages
14. Scan Password auto complete enabled fields
15. Information disclosure
16. ViewState decoder
17. Scan password submission method
18. Authenticated area scanning
19. Reports
20. Robust Link Crawler
21. Backdoor WebShell Locater
22. WebShell Finder
23. Reverse IP domain check
24. Deep Application Testing
25. Botnet Monitoring
26. Defaced Keyword Monitoring
27. Content Change Monitoring
28. Schedule based Scan
29. SSL Check
30. Manual Scan
31. WAF Detection
32. CSRF Detection
33. ClickJack Protection Check
34. Page Source Scan
35. OS Detection
36. DNS Misconfiguration
37. Phishing Scan

MTvScan also scans for the Top 10 vulnerabilities detected and listed by Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP).

Organizations spend a fortune on securing their website because a lot of business comes from online presence. If there are any kind of security loopholes in your website then it can directly lead to loss of data, breach in privacy and decreased brand value. Threats which are present online will always remain a problem for website owners but keeping an eye on these threats will push the owners to take action on them. A healthy website will perform exceptionally if you take good care of it and scan it regularly.

About Us:

ESDS’ MTvScan is a website security scanner which endows a user with uninterrupted services while examining different types of vulnerabilities and threats.