The modern age is punctuated by one thing, and one thing only — the advent of technology. That’s right. This rings truer now, more than it ever did. We have always been very reliant on technology in order to help alleviate the many difficulties that plague our daily mundane lives.

But the one thing that has been incredibly disruptive (in a good way, mind you) is the Internet. The medium that has allowed us to transcend the barriers that were once put forth by time, distance, and well, even by society.

The modern adult is far more well-informed and much more tech-savvy than their Baby Boomer counterparts. And that often becomes both a blessing and a downfall.

No, when I’m speaking about downfalls, I’m not referring to anything that can be solved by a bit of discipline, such as a phone or social media addiction. I’m talking about something with real-life consequences.

I’m talking about the added risk when you use your devices to interact with the Internet. Yes, the Internet of Things, which is one of the most anticipated technologies undoubtedly brings with it a plethora of conveniences and niceties. But despite these advantages, IoT exposes us in ways that we definitely don’t want. This is even more true for business owners.

When you open your devices to the Internet, you are also increasing the number of entry points for unscrupulous people, hackers in particular.

See, hackers, at least the serious ones, don’t care much for the small folk. They tend to target those who they know have a lot of resources. This often means that they target businesses, and for good reason (in their perspective). Hacking is a complicated process and they’re going to want to make sure that their efforts net worthwhile results.

All businesses are at risk here. If there’s a device that’s connected to the Internet, consider it to be at risk. For reference, this news article illustrates how a hacker was able to get 50,000 office printers to print out a message telling people to subscribe to Pewdiepie’s channel. While this may seem like a harmless prank (or also an effort to help Pewds win the fight against T-Series), it does raise an important question about how well our devices are actually secured.

And sure, office printers may not be the next target for a plot to destabilize the government or to bring a business giant to its knees, but it does send a clear message. Think about it. If anything that’s connected to the Internet is susceptible to cyber attacks, consider the possibilities.

You need to have preventive measures in place. Cyber attacks can include everything from hacking medical devices to even stealing business secrets via surveillance cameras. And this is why it’s important to at least opt for penetration testing services in order to determine whether your security is up to the task or not.

Just for reference, you may want to check out how real the cyber attack problem really is. This list includes a lot of big businesses and organizations which you might think would have the toughest security systems money can buy, but they have been found to be vulnerable too.

Author's Bio: 

Lora Y