Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting data and computer systems from cyber-based attacks.
Practices include training staff properly, two-factor authentication, performing security updates on a regular basis, keeping backups, recognizing scams and phishing attempts, and scanning your files for malicious code.
In this article, I cover what cybersecurity is, why you should care and best practices.
What is Cybersecurity and Why is It Important?
In simple terms, cybersecurity is any security practice you do that protects you or your business from cyber attacks.
Preferably, that security practice would be performed by a specialist, such as a full-time IT tech or an agency you hire to handle IT-related tasks for your business.
However you get it done, there’s no denying that cybersecurity is one of the best investments you can make in both your personal and professional lives.
According to research conducted by Check Point, organizations experienced a 3% increase in cyber attacks between October 2025 and November 2025 and a 4% increase year-over-over between November 2024 and November 2025.
This amounted to an average of 2,003 cyber attacks every week.
Cyber attacks are highest in Latin America and North America where attacks have increased 17% and 9% respectively year-over-year.
Improper employee training, lax security practices and the emergence of AI technology are fueling this increase.
Here are a few statistics from IBM’s report on data breaches just to give you an idea of where the industry is at:
- The average cost of a data breach is $4.4 million USD.
- 97% of organizations who experienced an AI-driven cyber attack did not have proper access settings in place.
- Organizations who used AI for cybersecurity saved $1.9 million on average in comparison to organizations who didn’t.
Furthermore, in our post on why small businesses become targets for cybersecurity threats, I quoted a statistic from a Mastercard survey that revealed that 46% of small to medium-sized businesses have reportedly experienced at least one cyber attack.
Even worse,
- 80% of businesses who have experienced an attack end up having to spend a lot of time rebuilding trust with customers and business partners,
- only 23% are satisfied with the security plans they have in place,
- only 23% are confident in their ability to recognize threats,
- and 73% find it incredibly difficult to get employees to take cybersecurity seriously.
These statistics prove that not only is cyber security very important, businesses are not equipped to handle sophisticated cyber attacks nor are they prepared for the fallout.
Types of Cybersecurity
- Critical infrastructure security
- Network security
- Endpoint security
- Application security
- Cloud security
- Data security
- Access security
These security types cover every area in which computer systems and the internet in general interact with your organization.
Critical Infrastructure Security
Critical infrastructure security is cybersecurity protocols and practices that are designed to protect assets that are important to the general population as a whole, including national security, economic networks and public health systems.
The United States government recognizes 16 different sectors in which critical infrastructure security is crucial. Businesses that belong to one of these sectors may be required to meet certain security requirements and follow specific compliance laws, such as HIPAA and NERC CIP.
Network Security
Network security involves protecting the network that connects every device you and your employees use in your organization. By enabling and properly configuring firewalls, maintaining hardware and software stability, controlling who has access to what, and securing VPNs, you can do a lot to protect your organization from data breach attempts.
Endpoint Security
Endpoint security protects devices that connect to your network, including desktop and laptop computers, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and any other device that connects to your network.
Related: Is Your Smart Office a Security Risk? What Small Businesses Need to Know About IoT
Application Security
Application security involves protecting endpoint devices by following best practices when choosing, installing and maintaining software.
Cloud Security
Cloud security is similar to network security, except it protects data you store in the cloud.
Data Security
Data security involves any security practice you perform that protects your organization’s data and sensitive files as well as your customers’ data.
Access Security
Access security is any security practice that prevents hackers and bad actors from accessing your network, data and sensitive files.
Types of Cybersecurity Threats
- Improper employee training and practices
- Password cracking
- Malware
- Ransomware
- Phishing attempts
- SIM swapping
These threats make up the majority of issues and attacks that have the potential to harm your organization.
Improper Employee Training and Practices
According to cybersecurity statistics recorded by federal agencies within the United States government, the majority of information security threats, or 38%, are caused by “improper usage.”
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), which reports these statistics, defines this as being “any incident resulting from violation of an organization’s acceptable usage policies by an authorized user that is not reported as part of another threat vector category.”
These other “threat vector categories” include email/phishing attacks (which make up 19% of threats), attacks from websites and web-based applications (11%), and loss/theft of equipment (10%).
In other words, the majority of threats can be circumvented by simply training your employees to recognize security threats and to use better practices when interacting with organization-based accounts and endpoint devices.
Have employees use strong passwords, two-factor authentication and dedicated work devices (meaning they never log into personal accounts on work devices).
Password Cracking
Hackers use a number of different methods to crack passwords, and while you might think this is a complicated process involving complex computer applications and code, it’s actually a lot simpler than you think.
Related: Stopping Account Hacks: The Advanced Guide to Protecting Your Small Business Logins
This is because a lot of internet users choose insecure passwords that are easy to crack.
According to research conducted by NordPass, these are the top five most common passwords in the world:
- 123456
- admin
- 12345678
- 123456789
- 12345
Plus, an honorable mention for “password,” which came in at #6.
Even when you choose a unique password, if that password contains plain words or words that are meaningful to you, it might be possible to crack with brute force attempts or by browsing your social media accounts.
Related: Cracking Down On Credential Theft: Advanced Protection for Your Business Logins
It’s better to use a password generator, then save that password in a password manager. This ensures your password is made up of random numbers, letters and characters that have no meaning. Saving it in a password manager means you won’t need to write it down.
Bonus tip: don’t ask your employees to change their passwords on a routine basis. All this does is encourage them to use the same password again but with one change.
Even worse, they might start writing their passwords down. You’re much better off paying for a business password manager for your organization.
Malware and Ransomware
Malware and ransomware are similar types of attacks in that they’re designed to inject malicious code into your files. What that code does is dependent on the type of malware you’re dealing with.
Here are common types of malware that can infect your network:
- Virus – Malicious code that’s designed to slow systems down, overwrite original code, display popups, interrupt network connections, hijack browsers, and more.
- Ransomware – A type of malware that locks your system down and demands payment in order to unlock it.
- Keylogging – Records every keystroke you make on your computer as a way to steal sensitive information, like passwords, email addresses, phone numbers and payment information.
- Spyware – A quiet type of malware that monitors user activity on the system.
- Trojan – Malware that disguises itself as a real application.
Many malware infections are avoidable.
They occur when networks don’t have properly-configured firewalls in place. When this happens, malware infects systems through malicious code in software that gets installed intentionally (by disguising itself) or unintentionally (by hiding itself in other files).
Firewalls block malicious code from infecting your network.
Malware is also the result of user error. This is why you should also train employees on how to spot potential threats.
Phishing Attempts
Another threat businesses absolutely need to train employees to recognize are phishing attempts.
These are common security threats typically distributed through email.
Scammers and hackers disguise malicious links and files inside legitimate emails sent from what appear to be legitimate email addresses.
Spotting these emails used to be easy. They’d contain obvious scripts with little to no personalization and maybe even a few typos.
Now that spammers have AI at their disposal, recognizing phishing emails and even phone calls and texts are a lot more difficult.
The best thing you can do is teach employees to never click links or download files from untrusted sources, especially if they’re logged in to critical accounts that are important to your organization.
SIM Swapping
SIM swapping is a type of fraud in which a scammer successfully transfers your phone carrier’s SIM to a phone they control.
Once they do that, they can access any account that requires authentication through SMS text messages.
The best defense against this type of threat is to use a two-factor authentication method other than a phone number as your primary 2FA method. Alternatives include an authenticator app like Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator or even a secondary email address.
You can also enable a setting on your phone called “Line Lock.” This prevents your phone number from being transferred to a new SIM until you disable the setting.
