bigstock-Security-concept-Shield-With--53480848You hear almost every day about big companies that have millions of customer’s information hacked and stolen. There’s Target, Home Depot, and many others. But what about companies that focus on manufacturing? Well, they’re no exception to the rule.

Take a look at some of the largest manufacturers and what happened:

1. Microsoft:

You don’t think of them as a traditional manufacturer. But they are a manufacturer – of software and PCs. They actually got nailed this year on February 1st. Believe it or not, their employees fell for targeted e-mail and social media phishing attacks. Usually, they these emails appear to come from a credible source and request personal or confidential information of some kind. The Syrian Electronic Army hacktivist group claimed responsibility for the attack. Now, if anyone should be able to escape or avoid a hack of any kind, it should be Microsoft. And yet it happened to them! The lesson: anyone may attack your company for any reason.

2. Honda:

They actually got waxed way back in 2010. In terms of cyber security, that was eons ago. This time, cyber thieves took e-mail addresses, VINs, and the names of more than 2.2 million customers. The fear was the criminals would then follow up with the customers with phishing attacks and try to steal even more information. Technically, a third-party company that sent welcome e-mails to new Honda owners got hacked. The lesson: make sure any third-party companies or individuals you contract with have appropriate security measures in place too.

3. Foxconn:

This Chinese company manufactures electronic parts for Apple. This is very interesting, as reports say hacker group SwaggSec attacked Foxconn because of the excessive hours it required employees to work.
The hackers stole every username and password the company had – including that of CEO Terry Gou. Then they posted it publicly for use. They gained access through an unpatched Internet Explorer vulnerability used by a Foxconn employee. The lesson: make sure you have good internal security measures too.

The Solution:

If large companies routinely get hacked, what does that say about smaller businesses? Hackers know smaller companies don’t pay nearly as much attention to security as leading corporations. And you don’t hear about those crimes in the media because they don’t attract as much attention. You may not have the time or financial resources to create your own internal security measures. But, you can hire a managed services provider who specializes in small business cyber security. They have the experience, practices, and resources in place to stay one step ahead and protect you from costly internal and external threats just like these. Would you rather take every security measure you can to protect your data, or would you rather have your sensitive/confidential information stolen, and then have to report that to all your clients?

Click the link  Managed IT services if you would like more information.

Learn more about the author Bob Martin