There is a common misconception that Cisco technology is only for large corporations. Today we want to change your mind on this. In the last few years, Cisco has been focussing much of their effort on developing a portfolio in Collaboration, Networking and Security built for small and medium-sized businesses. These Cisco small business solutions are designed to directly enhance the way that smaller businesses operate whilst integrating Cisco’s renowned and award-winning hardware and software.

The ability to implement affordable Cisco small business solutions has enabled thousands of firms across the globe to streamline operations, reduce costs, and rapidly grow their business.

When it comes to cyber attacks you might think your business will go under the radar because of your small size compared to these huge businesses that exist. However, this is definitely not the case! Small businesses are seen as an easy target for hackers. Larger businesses will always have a lot of security in place.

So why would a hacker spend weeks trying to crack it when he/she can target several small businesses with no protection for a fraction of the effort? 58% of cyber-attack victims are small businesses and each attack costs an average of $2,235 (Ponemon). That’s why it’s so important for small businesses to ensure they are not open to attacks.

This is a great video explaining how these cyber attacks can happen:

Security based in the cloud can block threats before a connection to your network is ever even established. This is a very effective form of protection. Cisco developed Umbrella to specifically do just this! Cisco Umbrella is the top choice for small businesses when it comes to Cisco security as it doesn’t require you to purchase any hardware and provides the first line of defence against cyber threats.

By using DNS protection, Umbrella can stop threats over all ports and protocols, including direct-to-IP connections. Its Intelligent Proxy ensures that any requests to shady-looking domains are flagged for deeper inspection. Cisco Umbrella is extremely easy to deploy and we view it as a necessity for businesses that operate in the dangerous online world that exists today.

Malware is the most common form of attack used by hackers to penetrate your network. Protecting from it is of paramount importance. Cisco has got you covered with their product, AMP. Cisco AMP helps you to detect, block, and remediate advanced malware across all you’re your business’ endpoints.

It protects you from the most advanced attacks that hackers can perform by seamlessly preventing, detecting and responding to threats. It gives you deep and valuable visibility into executable and file activity on your network so you can identify where problems could potentially arise from.

Here is a video further explaining what Cisco AMP can do:

Many next-generation firewalls on the market today reduce risk by providing access control over applications. However, they don’t go far enough when it comes to eliminating threats. Small and medium-sized businesses need firewalls that are going to protect them from all angles.

The Cisco Meraki MX-series firewalls are comprehensive Cisco small business security solutions in a single box. With an abundance of features built in, the MX-series (as with any other Meraki product), is a dream to deploy. It’s so fast and easy! The Meraki dashboard enables network admins to view all important information and perform changes wherever they are in the world, on any device. Meraki have truly mastered intuitive centralised management with this range of Cisco small business solutions. Meraki Switches and Wifi also feature this renowned management dashboard.

As you can see, there are many Cisco small business solutions available to secure your network from any malicious visitors. These all have their own jobs and protect your network in a unique way. If you think your business is currently not as secure as one would hope we would love for you to contact us here. We can perform a security assessment and quickly identify the areas that you should address.

In the next article in this series, we look at all the Cisco small business solutions that will enhance your collaboration and communication, both internally and externally. You can click here to read it.