Even large corporations and governments suffer from cybersecurity threats. What can we say about startups and small companies?
Be the Cybersecurity concerned from day 0
No matter what business, project, idea you are, think, breathe and act in terms of cybersecurity. Don’t let unexpected things happen.
There are many simple but efficient rules and best practices to follow, you don’t need to be a cybersec expert or a hacker.
Get to know the concept of the attack surface
What is it? You should know what cybersecurity threats are. Otherwise, it is simply impossible to protect yourself from what you do not know.
From where to get this knowledge, then? Cybersecurity standards, orgs, communities, forums, confs, events, newsletters, etc. Knowledge is open, accessible and constantly updated. Being on the front lines is not pathos, it’s a necessity.
Protected infrastructure
For startups that deploy their services in the cloud, some cybersecurity issues are solved by cloud providers.
Web application firewall (WAF)
WAF can help to prevent some types of attacks, and this is a good option to use it.
Types of threats // just example list (unordered)
There are many types of threats that should be considered and kept in mind. Let’s build some example list.
Unauthorized access to your information or your customers’ information, including passwords, private keys, credentials, etc.
Insider threats, insiders with authorized access and rights may intentionally or unintentionally misuse their privileges.
Social Engineering, cybercriminals often use phishing emails, phone calls, or impersonation tactics to deceive employees and gain unauthorized access to sensitive information.
Weak Authentication, inadequate security policies, weak authentication mechanisms, bad password/keys management can lead to big cybersecurity problems.
Third-Party Risks, partnering with third-party vendors or relying on external services can introduce cybersecurity risks. Prepare yourself for such accidents.
Data leaks, it can be a problem on your side or 3d parties, but in any case, taking care of sensitive data is very important.
Infra level attacks (DDoS), it is difficult for a startup or small business to build a powerful infrastructure. One of the solutions is to use large cloud vendors.
Masses manipulation attacks (FUD, FOMO, etc.), attackers can use the technique of manipulating the masses to make their own profit.
0-day vulnerabilities, the term “0-day” implies that the vulnerability is discovered and exploited by attackers before the software’s developers or security experts have had zero days to address and patch the vulnerability.
And many more.., to build a comprehensive list is a task (out of the scope of this post, you can play with ChatGPT/Bard/etc. for it)
You can create your own list/classification of cyber-security threats (good training).
Only one thing that works very well is knowledge and practice, not a specific solution. There is no magic bullet.
