These days, the disasters that can befall small businesses can come from the internet as much as from natural disasters. Recent years have seen the amount of risks to employee data grow as hackers exploit flaws in networks and release dangerously subtle malware. Continuity of operations planning is essential to prevent such an attack from crippling a business' normal processes.

Something as simple as a wrong email can seriously threaten the security of an organization, especially one that relies heavily on the internet to store and transmit crucial information. Small businesses are vulnerable to this, too: The Portales News Tribune recently quoted security expert Richard Bradfute, who appeared at a local theater to drive home the importance of proper security, even in relatively remote regions of the country.

Although he did say that small business owners can fight against hackers, Bradfute referred to a study asserting that more than half of small-to-medium sized business suffer some sort of hack. 

"Hackers are looking for easy marks," he said. "Small businesses have some assets, and they're not protecting themselves. They're not thinking about security." He added that "the thing that makes it so insidious is that most people don't even know they have a problem."

There are many different access points for criminals looking to cause a cyber-attack, and companies need to be aware of them before it is too late. The problem can stem from malware downloaded onto a computer or a previously existing security gap in major software.

Since everyone from hospitals to news outlets to major movie studios seem to be potential targets, there's no industry that is completely safe from the chance of a critical systems breach. With a continuity of operations plan, though, companies at least have a method available to return to normalcy and help try to recover any important information that might have been lost.