At Managepoint, we help small and medium sized businesses grow and be successful by doing their Human Resources for them.  From payroll to benefits, from training to administration, we have helped hundreds of companies grow by performing their HR functions so they can concentrate on their business.  We align ourselves with our clients business, having a clear understanding of their goals and tailoring our services to make sure their goals are being met.  We make sure that they are in compliance with HR laws and regulations, and are working hard to make sure all of our clients understand the changes that are coming with the Affordable Care Act.

One of the things that we see on a regular basis is how our clients interact with us and with others through technology.  Whether it is through software, hardware, hand held devices, networking features or social media, all of the companies we work with have made great strides and improvements in their use of technology.  With that, unfortunately, comes risks and issues.  Risks in policies of using your own hand held device for work related functions (BYOD), and the compliance of how your IT department deploys information to those devices, to the risk of cyber attacks on small companies.

This month Symantec released their 2013 Internet Security Threat Report, and within the report there were a number of alarming things that SMB’s need to be aware of.  There was a 42% increase in targeted cyber attacks in 2012, and 31% of those attacks were on companies with less than 250 employees.  Most small companies do not think that they will be targeted, since larger companies with more assets would be a more logical place to attack.  Cyber attackers use smaller companies to gain entrances into larger companies.

The report also stated that mobile devices are a large target for attackers.  While the attacks are generally to steal information from the users (bank account and credit card information), the rise in employees using their own device for work increases the threat of attacks within companies.  You can read the report here.