Your business is like a card castle. It seems to stand still, but a single breath of wind can potentially ruin it permanently. And just like that, a single cyber-attack could do much harm to your business and reputation.

Business vulnerability could be caused by various weaknesses. A lot of companies spend exponentially more time to extend their business and improve it than they do to protect it, and this could be their biggest mistake. There are various external sources that could pose a threat, as well as internal negligence. A lot of threats that can cause crises for your business instantly appear in your mind: hackers, data breaches, personnel weaknesses, counterfeit, substandard technology, physical threats, and even the competition from other organizations.

It’s a visible battle with plenty of known losses. The data breach of Marriott-Starwood resulted in the loss of information belonging to over 500 million consumers. Approximately 143 million consumers were affected by an attack on Equifax in 2017, which cost the business more than $4 billion. The Yahoo breach left billions of accounts vulnerable.

Cyber-attacks have been rated the fifth top risk in 2020 and become the new norm across public and private sectors. This field continues to grow in 2022, as IoT cyber-attacks alone are expected to double by 2025. IBM reports that the global average cost of data breach is $3.86 million. Let us explore the most common ones, but most importantly discuss what to do with them.

Why Your Business May Be Vulnerable

Owner of a small and medium business often assume that this scenario is just not about them. However, the assumption that criminals would not disrupt their operations or steal their data just because the company is not listed in Forbes could not be further from reality.

The targets are not just the ”big fish,” two out of three cyber-attacks are now directed at small businesses. Statistics show that 64% of companies worldwide have experienced at least one form of a cyber-attack.It requires minimal efforts from the hackers’ side to target any company that does not pay enough attention to its security. Even if the stolen data isn’t profitable, such attacks can still be done for practice or sport. Nowadays, malware variants are mostly automated and target businesses that lack protection.

As technologies are evolving at tremendous speeds, cyber threats are changing and adapting respectfully. There are new efficient attacks every day. Just as an intruder or a hacker is a potential enemy, a process accessing data in a way that violates the security policy, a fire or natural disaster that can destroy a facility, or an employee making an unintentional mistake that could expose confidential information – all these risks make companies vulnerable.

We have already discussed another threat to your business - how counterfeit products pose danger not only to brands’ reputation, but also to the consumer’s health and even life. The rise of consumerism era has fueled a rapid increase of counterfeit products. Fake products will eventually lead to loss of revenue, substandard quality of products with your name on it, health risks and obviously damage to the brand name. Our global economy is now facing a tremendous challenge of counterfeit and pirated goods, as the trade of these harmful products is booming. It affects governments, business, and consumers.

The outcomes of such attacks include business disruptions, information and revenue losses, and equipment damage. The size of the company or the industry doesn’t matter, no one can feel safe. Since every company is dependent on technologies, that are the direct sources of vulnerabilities itself, the security optimization should be in your top priorities.

What Measures You Can Take Right Now to Protect Your Business

The best defense is knowing your weaknesses and strengths in advance. So the first step is preparation.

You should complete a full examination of each department, examining all the potential vulnerabilities that can lead to a crisis. This will help you to remove the weaknesses on early stages.

Always update your software and systems, as it usually contains some recent security upgrades. If it isn’t done, you stay vulnerable and criminals can use these weaknesses to gain access to your network. Usually, it is possible to schedule the updates after working hours and you can use some applications that can regularly check to ensure all programs are up to date.

Remember to back up your data.  This will help you to mitigate problems in a worst-case scenario – you find yourself under attack. This way you will be able to restore any data without wasting time and valuable resources. Luckily doing so regularly doesn’t cost much and generally takes a little time.

Another good idea is to encrypt all the sensitive data. This way, all the data stored or sent online will be converted into a secret code. You can turn on network encryption through your router settings or by installing a virtual private network (VPN) solution on your device when using a public network.

Install security and anti-virus software. Malware or viruses can infect any devices - your computers, laptops, tablets or mobile devices.

Have passwords or even better passphrases  for everything. Passphrase is a password that is a phrase, or a collection of different words. They are simple for humans to remember but difficult to decipher by a machine. You should also think of a way to store and protect the passwords. You should have different passwords for every application and change them from time to time.

A good idea would be to secure your network. In case an infected device gets to connect to your Wi-Fi, the whole network is at risk. 

Your staff can be the first and last line of defense against cyber threats and what is more – the weakest. So take care of educating your employees. It’s important to make sure your staff knows about the threats they can face and the role they play in keeping your business safe. Hold regular trainings, so that employees are able to recognize threats and teach them what they should do in case they are hacked.

All these suggestions are relevant when you are protecting your internal processes and data. However, if you are producing any goods, there is another possible threat – counterfeits.

To protect your brand’s reputation, it is quite efficient to monitor the places where your products appear, so that you will always know if there are new suspicious places with counterfeit versions of your products. There are some AI-powered tools that will help you with that. Your customers can also help you in this battle. Educate your customers on the dangers of counterfeit products and let them know key identifiers that can help them distinguish between fake and real products.

How RealQR can help you to deal with counterfeits

Fortunately, if you are dealing with production and feel the need to protect your goods from counterfeit, we are here for you. Our Real QR solution will help you to fight counterfeits and protect your costumers.

RealQR is a GS1 Standards-based brand protection solution that prohibits the duplication of your unique QR code. It is extremely flexible in embedding codes into products, with an option to be integrated into your printer. The authentication app generates reports to detect numerous fraudulent attempts, ensuring that your products are not counterfeited. Our system will detect and notify you of any attempts to replicate your website using this feature.

RealQR also benefits the customer engagement by promoting your brand's transparency. You can customize the information available after scanning the product. From there, you can use not only to display confirmation of authenticity, but to drive customers to your website, or even use engagement devices such as loyalty programs. It works with any mobile device with a camera to scan code for authentication. Analytics program provides you with valuable consumer insights, such as location, user demographics, and popular product which you can use to enhance your brand strategy.

We offer you a 3 layer protection. Our labels may be built with 3-in-1 anti-forgery technology, which is both visually appealing for customers and makes them extremely secure at the same time. Labels with optical diffraction technology help to verify products even without using the app. These labels are extremely difficult to replicate, making them a great first line of defense against unscrupulous manufacturers.

It doesn’t matter if you produce health supplements, beauty products, food or any other branded product, RealQR is capable of protecting your business and your customers.

If there are any questions left, contact us, and our team will provide you with more details. We are also available for a discussion on our social media on Facebook or LinkedIn.