Houston Computer Support,network Support,on-site Services, Data

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Hackers Focus on Smaller Firms

Attacks on Sony and Lockheed grabbed the headlines but a attack on City Newsstand last year did not. But smaller companies are starting to see the damage that hackers can really do. Joe Angelastri, owner of City Newsstand found out the hard way about how thieves can cause damage by planting keylogging software to capture and send credit card numbers without his knowledge.

Joe is out $22,000 because cyber hackers were able to attack his payment system. Hackers are expanding their horizons to smaller businesses because the mentality of “Who would attack us?” is prevalent. The breach caused City Newsstand to lose half their profits for the year.

With limited budget and no technical experts on staff, all small businesses in this position are vulnerable. In 2010, the U.S. Secret Service and Verizon forensic analysis unit, which investigates attacks responded to 761 breaches of which, 482 or 63% were companies with 100 or less employees. 95% of those are credit card attacks.

City Newsstand’s computers were hacked because of a weak password on a remote access software. Two sites were attacked. Software was planted and 14 months later, Mastercard forced City Newsstand to conduct a $22,000 forensic study after suspecting a hack. For 14 months, credit card numbers were sent to a Russian server and then onto a Yahoo email account.

For small companies, hacks like these can be devastating. Another company, Burger Me’s was forced to shut down its credit card transactions due to a hacker. By 2008, fees and lost business for not being able to take credit cards put him into so much debt, $12,000 he had to close down.

Small businesses must secure their computer infrastructure. Computer firms perform technical assessments almost daily that provides insight on vulnerable security issues that could allow hackers in.

IT companies perform other valuable services that small companies need like data backups both local backups and offsite backups as well as server and desktop support. Other services include virus/SPAM control, mobile devices configuration, network design, troubleshooting , workstations and servers. 24/7 computer monitoring, data protection, and server configuration. mis-configured servers or lack of Microsoft updates to servers or desktops can be vulnerable access points for hackers.

Companies should make sure to employ a computer/network support company to conduct security assessments and to provide ongoing care to ensure that hackers do not cause a company to have to shut down due to hackers.

By Paul Garrison, CEO, Crescent IT Systems, 281-358-3589

About the Author:
Crescent Systems has been supporting its clients for over 20 years in the Houston Area. For more articles and information on how to make sure your business is a safe, profitable and stays up running smoothly. See us at http://www.crescent-systems.com/



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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