Cybersecurity is no longer just a problem for big corporations. Every business, no matter its size, is a potential target. In 2024, the average cost of a single data breach reached $4.88 million, while more than 3,200 breaches in the U.S. alone exposed data from nearly 350 million people. Numbers like these are alarming as they reflect precisely how damaging a single weak security spot can be.
The issue is that most companies don’t fall victim because their defenses are completely missing. They fall victim because they have gaps in their defenses. It might be an unpatched piece of software. It could be a careless click by a team member. It could even be caused by a poorly secured connection on a vendor’s side. No matter where it is, hackers don’t need to smash through your security strategy when they find a weakness elsewhere.
That is why closing security gaps is so important. Even small oversights can create big opportunities for attackers. It’s time for businesses to protect not only their systems and data but also the trust of their customers by targeting security gaps.
Employees Are Your Frontline
For many businesses, the biggest security gaps aren’t in the technology at all. There are everyday habits and routines. Your employees could accidentally let hackers through without even realizing it.
What are the most common vulnerabilities brought by your employees?
- Clicking on a phishing email
- Reusing weak passwords
- Downloading an unsafe attachment
- Sharing confidential information with someone they believe to be part of the business
All these can create an opening that hackers are waiting to exploit.
That doesn’t mean that staff are careless on purpose. More often than not, people are unaware that their actions could be damaging. Cybercriminals are extremely skilled at making their tricks look real. It only takes a fake invoice, a convincing login page, or even a message that looks like it came from a colleague to accidentally reveal more than they should.
This is why cybersecurity training is so important. Training can help staff recognize warning signs and respond correctly when something doesn’t look right. They are equipped with the knowledge to identify potential threats and report them. It’s crucial to provide your employees with the training they need to become your first line of defense. Once they are able to pause before acting and question whether a document, a message, or a link is real, they can prevent major data breaches in their daily work.
Hidden Dangers of Outdater Technology
Old or unpatched systems are one of the most common gaps businesses leave open. Hackers don’t need to invent new tricks if they rely on flaws that are already documented. In fact, many cyberattacks happen because hackers know which versions of software have weaknesses and simply look for companies that are still using these.
It’s easy to see how this could happen. Small businesses might delay updates because they’re worried about downtime. Larger companies may run older systems because replacing them would be too costly. But with every day that passes without patching, the risk of someone taking advantage of the gap increases.
Staying current with updates and patches is one of the simplest ways to reduce exposure and protect your business. It’s not glamorous, and more often than not, it is also a hassle to implement. Yet, it closes a major entry point that attackers depend on.
Your Partners’ Weaknesses Can Become Yours
As a business, you may be up-to-date and fully trained to prevent cybersecurity threats. But how about your partners? As businesses rarely operate in isolation, relying on partners like payment processors, cloud platform providers, and even a variety of other software vendors means that you need to ensure you are working with companies you can trust. Each of these connections creates a new path that hackers might be able to use. If a vendor has weak security, this could very quickly become your problem.
Third-party risks aren’t always obvious. That is why you need to be extra vigilant and understand what you are looking for.
Here are some common cases where third-party security gaps can affect a business:
- An app integration that makes invoicing easier could unknowingly present an insecure path to your network.
- A service provider handling sensitive data on your behalf could become a target of a cyberattack.
- Low-risk tools, like scheduling apps or file-sharing platforms, that are not properly secured can become weak points.
The challenge is that you can’t directly control another company’s security measures. But you can review their practices and ask questions to understand whether they meet your security standards. As a rule of thumb, you need to treat vendors and third-party partners like an extension of your own business.
Taking a Proactive Approach
Technology moves quickly, but so do hackers. By the time a traditional security check is completed, new gaps may have already appeared. That’s where CTEM (Continuous Threat Exposure Management) comes in.
Instead of waiting for an annual audit or reacting after a specific incident, CTEM gives businesses an ongoing view of where their vulnerabilities are. It looks at systems, configurations, and potential entry points with the same attention a hacker would. The goal of this approach is simple: Find exposures before they are found by someone else and turn into breaches.
How does this work?
For example, CTEM can highlight issues like
- Misconfigured cloud storage
- Overlooked user accounts
- Applications running with more access than necessary
These are not always things that traditional tools catch. But that is the point: they are exactly the kinds of things a cybercriminal would be looking for.
Of course, you want to use CTEM alongside staff awareness and regular patching. This is designed as another layer of protection, not as a replacement for other strategies.
Creating a Culture of Security
Even with the best technology, there will always be security gaps. But these are even more likely to appear if people inside the business treat security like an afterthought. A strong defense depends on culture, aka the shared understanding that protecting data is everyone’s job.
Culture starts at the top. You want the leaders to show that security matters, so employees are more likely to follow. Let’s not forget the role of processes, from clear password policies to device use, to provide guidance on how to make the right choice day after day.
Ultimately, no matter your strategy, setting up your culture right from the start will be instrumental in keeping those security gaps as small as possible.
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