IT security: How cloud software turns smaller companies into fortresses

 Anyone who thinks their company is too small and therefore not a worthwhile target for hackers is wrong. Because not only large organizations are affected by cyber attacks. Smaller companies are also falling victim to them with increasing frequency. The cloud can provide a remedy here: providers of cloud software and infrastructures take on the task of securing data.

 

Cyberattacks do not stop at small companies, either, as the results of DsiN's SME 2020 practice report on IT security in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) show. Almost half of the respondents said they had been victims of such attacks in the survey period from April 2019 to April 2020. In three out of four cases (74 percent), the incidents resulted in damaging effects. Twelve percent even fear for their existence due to the cyberattacks they suffered.

 

One reason for the high vulnerability of SMEs is that many still have major deficiencies when it comes to IT security: for example, a quarter of the companies surveyed stated that they had no data backup processes at all. A third of respondents (35 percent) lack crisis response plans, and only 22 percent of companies pay attention to encrypted emails.

 

IT security: Rely on external expertise

The reason for this is that small companies in particular often lack the relevant expertise as well as the technologies and resources to successfully tackle the issue of IT security. These companies should rely on external providers when it comes to IT security. It is particularly worth considering software offerings from the public cloud. This is also shown by the Cloud Monitor 2020 from Bitkom and KPMG: According to this, the number of security incidents for public cloud applications was 22 percent, six percentage points lower than for corresponding applications located locally in the company's own IT infrastructure.

 

Fail-safe thanks to redundant architectures

In addition to protecting systems from unauthorized access, the continuous availability of business-critical data is also an important aspect of IT security. When using services in the public cloud, the infrastructure providers ensure the corresponding reliability and protection against data loss. To this end, they offer a redundant IT architecture in their data centers that immediately becomes active in the event of a possible failure and switches to a replacement system.

 

This prevents information from being lost and ensures uninterrupted operation. In addition, the infrastructure provider carries out regular data backups on backup systems, which in turn are kept redundant. Scalable at any time, cloud data centers are designed for high data flow and high data load - which also reduces the risk of failure.

 

IT security: Always up-to-date cloud software

The providers of the corresponding cloud applications themselves also ensure for their part that the software meets the latest requirements, for example for encryption and firewalls. Software updates and patches are installed automatically - without users having to take any action. Software manufacturers use patches to close security gaps or upgrade functions, for example to reduce errors in programs and prevent potential vulnerabilities in the application. This further increases the security of the IT infrastructure. Automatic provisioning also reduces the administrative workload in companies, and users can be sure that they are always working with an up-to-date and secure solution.

 

"It's no coincidence that small and medium-sized enterprises represent popular victims for cyber attackers. Small businesses in particular often lack the expertise, technology and time to deal with elementary IT security issues to a sufficient degree. Instead of investing valuable resources in upgrading their own infrastructure, it therefore pays to rely on partners who have precisely this know-how," explains Thorsten Schlechtriem, Vice President Small Business & Upper Medium Business at Sage.

 

"Against the backdrop of the current economic challenges, it is more important than ever for SMBs to focus on their core business and keep their business on track. Outsourcing IT security tasks frees them up to set the right priorities while staying protected from cyberattacks."