What do you do for business? Do you own a brick-and-mortar retail store? Do you cut and style hair in a beauty salon? Maybe you own a profitable catering service.

Whatever type of business you own, you almost certainly use computer software to keep track of shipments, account for payroll, save customer financial statements, you name it, you're using software to do it. Do you know who else knows that you do much of your bookkeeping electronically? Cybercriminals.

For the best protection against cyberattacks, you need two things: cyber insurance and cybersecurity education. You can get cyber insurance with Cyber Policy right now.

Do you know what else you can do? You can learn about the three major types of cyber hacks that'll shut down your business before you've even made it past the two-year mark.

Malware
Small businesses are the targets of 4,000 cyberattacks per day, according to Entrepreneur Magazine. Small businesses, though not as financially ample as large corporations, have something cybercriminals want: easy access. Only 14 percent of small businesses believe they can face a cyberattack head on and win.

The numbers don't lie: 48 percent of cyberattacks are caused "by acts of malicious intent. Human error or system failure account for the rest," reports Small Business Trends.

Malware, the hacker's favored method of intrusion, is made up of malicious code that when downloaded can either steal or destroy company data. If the cybercriminal is feeling particularly frisky, they'll write malware that does both.

To avoid downloading malware, avoid clicking and downloading anything from a source you're not familiar with, this rule should apply to your employees too. Quickbooks recommends setting up a firewall to block digital incursion.

Denial-of-Service (DoS)
If you own an e-commerce site, a DoS attack can kill your business. To implement a DoS attack, cybercriminals reroute internet traffic using multiple computers to your company's network in an effort to overload it. When the network is successfully overloaded, your website will shut down. The shutdown will cost you sales and customer loyalty.

To safeguard your business against a DoS attack, regularly update your computer network and software and monitor your online traffic. Quickbooks writes that if there's a sudden uptick in website traffic that does not make sense, it could be a hacker planning a DoS attack.

Phishing Emails
What do your employees do when they get an email from you? Do they ignore it, or do your employees respond in a timely manner? Most likely, your staff takes care in responding to email from management and clients. This quick action can cost you a data breach if you or your staff respond to a cybercriminal pretending to be someone else in the company.

Commonly known as a phishing email, a phishing attack is when a cybercriminal sends an infected email from what looks to be a trusted member of the business. The emails will usually appear to be from the boss asking for payroll and password account information. Once an employee responds, thinking they've responded to the boss, the cybercriminal has your SMB's confidential financial information.

To avoid getting caught up in a phishing scam, train your staff on how to spot a phishing email and tell them what is and is not acceptable to send via email.

No matter how careful you are, cybercriminals are lying in wait for your one mistake. Protect your company against a financial hit with cyber insurance from CyberPolicy today.