As a small- to medium-sized business (SMB) owner, you may already have clear strategies on how to manage your finances, employees, and workspace. The question is, do you also have a clear idea of how to use your current technology to achieve those strategies? If not, then your company needs an IT roadmap.

Cyberattacks are expected to keep on rising as hackers find new ways to infiltrate and steal important corporate data. That's why small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) must prioritize keeping their data safe from hackers. Here are data security risks you should watch out for in 2020.

Employee negligence – Not all data breaches are the result of sophisticated hackers.

Your employees access applications and confidential business data every day. Hackers, on the other hand, are trying to do the exact same thing but for more malicious reasons. What’s worse, even employees can go rogue and steal your data, which is why it’s crucial that you have an identity and access management (IAM) solution in place.

Ransomware can feel like an inevitability in today’s digital landscape, but SMBs have many tools at their disposal to protect their critical information. Notably, ransomware always requires a foothold to infiltrate a company, and this avenue is often achieved through known exploits in legacy systems or phishing scams that induce employees to grant network access to cybercriminals.

Ring is emblematic of the consequences of failing to embrace data security as a top priority. As a result of multiple data security instances and allegations of weak data privacy standards, Ring has endured significant brand erosion, and these episodes continue to degrade their competitive advantage. In an industry where customers have many options to choose from, this could be a serious factor in the company’s future financial success.