Andrew Bagrin

It’s no secret that businesses of all shapes and sizes have opened their eyes to the importance of cybersecurity in light of what many industry experts have coined the “cyber breach epidemic.” Between the infamous Target breach that affected upwards of 40 million customers in 2014 to Home Depot’s compromise of 56 million credit card numbers, cybercriminals are making a name for themselves and showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon!

Cybercrime is getting the Hollywood treatment again with last week’s debut of “Mr. Robot,” a new TV series that follows a cybersecurity hacktivist who shut down DDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks by day and hacks criminals in his free time, all in the name of doing good. It’s an interesting twist in the criminal case of the week format that’s sure to raise some eyebrows.

While it’s not a pleasant thought, the more we enable our lives with cool tech, the more we open up the doors to criminals using weapons of ones and zeros to attack our machines and steal our data. As IT solutions providers, you can empower your customers to better protect their businesses with improved cybersecurity practices. Here are three ways you can make an impact on cyber security for your clients — and yourself — in 2015.

The volume of recent breaches at Target, Home Depot, Staples, and J.P. Morgan Chase proves that cybersecurity threats aren’t going away anytime soon. And, despite the fact that large companies are making all the headlines, small businesses are actually at greater risk for a data security breach. According to Visa, small businesses represent more than 90 percent of payment data breaches reported to the company. When taking into account that a single data breach can cost a small business $300,000 or more, owners are beginning to open their eyes to the importance of data security, particularly as the headlines continue to break.

Earlier this year, a string of eateries in the Pacific Northwest experienced security breaches, with 290 restaurants exposing customers’ credit card info. The restaurants included well- known names like Dairy Queen, and small businesses like Flat Tail Brewing Company and Laurelwood Brewing. The common thread between these businesses was the attacks took aim at vulnerabilities within their point of sale (POS) security.