The Coalition Cybersecurity Checklist: Protect your business in the new year

Everyone’s life felt a tectonic shift in 2020, and the rapid evolution of our work and home lives has led to a rise in cyber crime. Effectively protecting your organization from today's cyber threats can feel like a daunting task, but it’s more important now than ever before.

Here at Coalition, we have a unique, up-close view of the cyber attacks that impact organizations most. Unfortunately, we’ve seen the severity, frequency, and sophistication of these attacks increase dramatically over the last year.

From 2019 to 2020, we saw a 67% increase in the frequency of business email compromise attacks. In the first half of 2020 alone, we witnessed a 47% increase in the average ransom demand. And while many attackers exploit misconfigured security settings and software vulnerabilities, 60% of claims we saw resulted from human error.

Coalition’s Cybersecurity Checklist

Instead of letting these stats shake your confidence, we want you to feel empowered to take action and do what it takes to shield your business from malicious actors. In partnership with our in-house Security and Incident Response (SIRT) and Claims teams, we’ve identified a few simple (free and low cost) steps you can take today to protect your business.

Coalition’s Cybersecurity Checklist summarizes our top recommendations for small businesses who want to be safe and secure. If you check off every item on this list, you’ll be a much less appealing target for cybercriminals in the new year and beyond.

This checklist can help you avoid cyber attacks

Is this checklist for you?

| Cyber Incident | Description | |--------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ransomware and malware attacks | A bad actor encrypts and disables access to business-critical systems and data until a ransom payment is made. Data may also be exfiltrated and exposed if the ransom isn’t paid | | Funds transfer fraud | A bad actor uses social engineering, sometimes in concert with attacks such as phishing, to cause funds to be sent to the attacker instead of the proper recipient | | Business email compromise | Email intrusion resulting from spoofing, phishing, or spear phishing that can result in a data breach or funds transfer loss | | Data breaches | Exposure of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or Protected/Personal Health Information (PHI) of your customers | | Legal and regulatory issues | Violation of a legal or regulatory framework, such as GDPR or CCPA | | Web application compromise | Direct compromise of a web-based product, such as an ecommerce platform, as a result of a targeted attack | | Technology errors & omissions | A failure in the technology product or services results in business interruption or loss on behalf of your customers |

This checklist was built for small businesses looking for expert advice to protect their organization from a devastating cyber event. Small businesses often don’t have the security and technical expertise of larger organizations, making them a prime target for attackers. Coalition understands these challenges, which is why we are sharing the suggestions of our cybersecurity specialists with you.

Note: Addressing these security areas will help you mitigate cyber risk, but they can’t guarantee you won’t be a target. If you’re looking for more detailed cybersecurity advice, reach out to our team, and they will be happy to assist.

Download the Coalition Cybersecurity Checklist

With this checklist, you’ll be able to quickly view the safety measures you need to implement to secure your organization and minimize your chances of experiencing a cyber incident. Pass this helpful checklist off to teammates and security provider to make sure you’re secure.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss any of the items on the checklist, feel free to reach out to our team — we’re here to help.

For more detailed explanations of each section of this checklist, including vetted vendor recommendations, download the 2021 Coalition Cybersecurity Guide.