Key Takeaways:
The number of cyberattacks is increasing every day, and bad actors are using techniques old and new to hack into networks and steal valuable data. As someone in the world of viticulture, you probably think there’s nothing there to steal, and sophisticated cybersecurity isn’t needed. Unfortunately, whether you have a small family-owned winery or a large-scale operation, leaving cybersecurity to chance could put you out of business.
This isn’t a new problem. In 2020, Brown-Forman was targeted by ransomware operators, who informed the company that they spent quite a bit of time perusing their user services and their general architecture, as well as their cloud data storage.
Brown-Forman, had enough cybersecurity in place to keep their data from being encrypted, but not enough to prevent or catch the attack: the hackers had access for over a month before making their presence known. The risks of a data breach keep rising. In 2021, 4,100 data breaches exposed about 22 billion records, and that number was expected to increase to 33 billion records in 2023. Let’s look at the cybersecurity risks for wineries and how to protect yourself.
It may seem unlikely that a winery would be vulnerable to cyberattacks. After all, you’re hardly holding state secrets or the plans for a new weapon system. You probably have proprietary information stored on your network, but that isn’t a very appealing target. But do you know what is? All your customer and employee information.
This information is valuable because it contains things such as social security numbers, credit card information, full names, dates of birth, and other personally identifiable information, all of which can be used for identity theft.
Hackers then sell the information on the black market via the dark web. And in case you were wondering, your company’s financial information is useful, too. But don’t panic. Here, we’ll explore the most common cyberattack methods, how to protect yourself, and why you might want to turn to an expert for help since your focus is wine, and it’s important to keep it there.
Hackers are clever, and they’re kind of like cockroaches. They evolve, and cybersecurity has to evolve right along with them. This requires blocking bad actors from every direction, which involves technology and people. You’ll see why as we cover the most common means of attack.
Phishing dupes its targets by contacting them via email (most common), telephone, or text and pretending to be a legitimate organization. They then trick the person into providing personally identifiable information, banking details, credit card numbers, passwords…you name it.
Phishing emails fool people by using these common methods:
There are other methods of phishing to be aware of, such as spear phishing and whaling, but these basic types of phishing are the ones we see most often that reel in the unsuspecting.
Ransomware has become one of the most common ways for hackers to make a living. They use malicious software (sometimes through phishing emails) to gain access to your network. Then, they encrypt your data, which makes it impossible for your staff to access mission-critical data or even conduct business as usual until you pay up.
But paying the ransom doesn’t mean you’ll get all or any of your data back. About 32% of ransomware victims pay the ransom but get a mere 65% of their data back. And because most companies have a laissez-faire attitude about backups, only 57% of businesses who have suffered a ransomware attack successfully recover their data using them.
Direct breaches happen when your company stores all or most of its business data on unencrypted computers – laptops, desktops, and mobile devices and the device is compromised. As an example, if you have a wine club and your membership database is on a company computer that gets stolen or lost, all the hacker has to do is fire up the device, and there’s all the bank information, membership information, and customer information.
It's all scary, but it’s also mostly preventable. As you can see, cybersecurity requires a multi-prong approach. Technology has to meet human beings in a place of constant vigilance. So what needs to happen? Read on.
Robust cybersecurity that offers real protection is complicated. Bad actors become more sophisticated all the time. Cybersecurity professionals spend a lot of time lurking among them, learning about the next big thing in the world of cybercrime and then devising ways to thwart it.
If you have an IT person or team, they’re generalists, which is great for keeping things humming along day to day, but cybersecurity is an entirely different discipline. Hiring a cybersecurity expert would cost you in the low-to-mid six figures. Do you have an extra $150k to toss around?
Your best bet is to hire an IT-managed services company that has cybersecurity experts on their team because this is what’s involved:
On top of all that, 60% of small businesses close their doors within six months of a cyberattack, and if they stay open, 25% will lose business. That’s because of the reputational damage created by a data breach. Your reputation is something you can’t put a price on – it means everything.
You can’t do everything needed to protect your business from cyberattacks – you have a winery to run. And sending an IT person to a one-week course isn’t going to work. You need professional help from an IT cybersecurity consultant. After all, you wouldn’t want cybercriminals to cause your business to wither on the vine.
Protect your winery before it’s too late.
Download the Vineyard Tech Vetting Guide to see what a strong cybersecurity foundation should look like—without the guesswork. This free guide will help you spot red flags, ask the right questions, and make confident decisions when it comes to choosing the right IT support.
Your business depends on more than the harvest. Don’t let outdated tech or unseen vulnerabilities spoil what you’ve built.