How to tell if your mid-market company is under cyber attack 

Mid-market companies are falling victim to cyberattacks at an alarming rate. As such, we must learn to better identify and respond to threats. 

Spotting the warning signs of a cyberattack  

Did you know that half of the mid-market company owners victimized by a cyberattack don’t even know about it? There can be some red flags for mid-market company stakeholders to look out for. Signs of a malware infection could include: 

• Slow computer performance 
• Programs opening or closing automatically 
• Pop-ups 
• A lack of storage space 
• Frozen windows 
• Blue screens 

In phishing campaigns, attackers masquerade as trusted parties and lure mid-market company employees or owners into opening documents, filling out forms, or making payments. 

According to the Cyber Security Awareness Alliance, common signs of a phishing attempt could include: 

• Abnormal request for confidential information 
• Mismatched or misleading information 
• Use of urgent or threatening language 
• Promises of attractive rewards 
• Suspicious attachments 

Many of today’s spearphishing attempts are so clever that even trained IT professionals can have difficulty distinguishing them. Often, a hacker may use a superior’s email account and ask a subordinate to pay an invoice, submit a document, follow a link, or open an account. 

Mid-market companies can find several online resources, such as this quiz by Jigsaw and Google, to help their employees learn how to identify phishing attempts better. 

What to do if your company is under cyberattack 

Whether it’s suspicious activity or an attack that has already happened, responding quickly is key to reducing the damage and regaining continuity. Follow these steps to prevent an attack from growing worse. 

• Isolate the Problem – Isolating the problem can reduce the attack’s ability to spread throughout the network and infect other systems. If you suspect a computer is infected with malware, immediately disconnect it from the network. If you suspect an employee’s credentials are at risk, immediately suspend access and force a password change. 
• Communicate the Problem – Next, let everyone in the organization know of the suspected attack. If one employee was hit with a phishing scam, others were likely targeted. Spreading the word quickly can reduce the ability of the attack to spread. Also, consider reporting it to authorities. While they probably can’t do anything to help recoup your losses, they can learn more about the threat and notify the cybercommunity to reduce the risk that may cause others to fall victim. 
• Investigate and Learn – Conduct a thorough investigation to determine how the attack happened. Make sure you put policies and protections in place to remove vulnerabilities. Post-attack actions may include installing new systems, implementing new policies, or even additional training for employees. 
• Restore – After purging the problem, perform a safe restore from backups of the impacted computers and files. This should underline why it’s critical to ensure you’re running verified backups daily. Losing a few hours or days’ worth of work and changes is better than losing weeks or months. 

Coro protects mid-market companies from cyberattacks  

We at Coro are dedicated to bringing affordable, enterprise-grade cybersecurity to mid-market companies. They are America’s economic backbone, yet for too long they’ve struggled with expensive, time-consuming solutions. Our protection frees them from worrying, investigating, or remediating themselves, allowing them to focus on their business.  

Want to learn more about what our data breach protection platform can do for you?