Cybercrime Avoidance: Ways to Protect Your Business and Employees Against Threats

Interconnected devices at work can make you more productive since saving, collecting, and retrieving data is so easy. No wonder Philippine businesses nowadays rely on digital tools and cloud systems to make work easier. But such dependence has also made them attractive targets of cybercrime.

A survey conducted by cyber defense company BlueVotant reported that over 80% of organizations in the Philippines experienced an average of three cybersecurity breaches in 2024. It just proves how frequently this crime happens.

Cybersecurity now isn't just an IT concern. Since many of the businesses and organizations use technology, protecting the data of your company, employees, and consumers has become a priority.

What Is Cybercrime?

Cybercrime refers to criminal activities carried out using computers, networks, or the internet. It includes actions like hacking, identity theft, phishing, online fraud, ransomware attacks, and spreading malware. Essentially, any illegal act that exploits digital technology to steal data, disrupt systems, or harm individuals and organizations falls under cybercrime.

Let’s learn the main types of cybercrimes that businesses and individuals face today.

1. Attacks on Individuals

When cybercriminals target an individual, it is mostly to steal money or identity. One example is identity theft. They steal an individual’s personal information to acquire their financial details and use it for themselves. 

There is also cyberstalking. The internet and other electronic devices have become their tools to stalk or harass an individual. They can monitor someone's online activities and send threatening messages. In some cases, they could even track their target's physical location.

Credit card fraud, on the other hand, is like stealing someone else's money. They use others' credit cards to purchase items without authority. This sort of fraud frequently happens nowadays, with stolen cards, online scams, and phishing. 

Phishing is when the hacker tricks the victim into giving his or her confidential information. It is a virus used by criminals for extortion: the demanded money is in exchange for data recovery.

2. Attacks on Property

Cybercrime on properties involves damaging or controlling your digital assets. This includes DDoS attacks, which flood your network with fake traffic from multiple sources. They do this to make your network unavailable to legitimate users.

Those being straightforward, installing malicious software inside the target's computers. These will be the malicious software attacking your file as it were-a site virus, spyware, or worm.

Copyright infringement can also be considered a cybercrime. This is when copyrighted digital properties are used without proper authority. Examples of these are the illegal use of music, movies, or software shared through digital means like streaming, file sharing, or illegal downloading.

3. Attacks on Government and Businesses

These are large-scale operations aimed at disrupting public systems or spreading misinformation. 

One example of this is hacking. Hackers gain unauthorized access to government data to steal or alter confidential information. There are also hacktivists who hack the system to draw attention to social or political issues. 

Cyberterrorism attempts to harm the general public through politically motivated, ideological, or even religious reasons by having the Internet or other digital technologies cause a large-scale disruption.

Propaganda and disinformation campaigns aim to disseminate deliberate information to affect public opinion through digital media. They change people's mindsets on political and social issues and cause untold damage.

Businesses are more vulnerable to successful attacks, as this could lead to data loss, reputational damage, and financial setbacks.

How To Report A Cybercrime?

Here are the simple steps for reporting a cybercrime:

1. Collect Evidence: Save screenshots, emails, chat logs, URLs, and any financial records related to the incident.

2. Report to Authorities: Contact your local or national cybercrime agency

3. Notify Your Bank or Platform: Report scams, hacked accounts, or unauthorized transactions immediately.

4. File a Formal Complaint: Provide all evidence and reference numbers to your local police or cybercrime unit.

5. Protect Yourself: Change passwords, enable 2FA, and monitor accounts for suspicious activity.

How to Protect Your Business Against Cybercrime

1. Keep Software and Systems Updated

Cybercriminals keep improving. In the same manner, systems and networks must also keep updating. 

Outdated software is the easiest for hackers to break into. So, having a regular update to your operating systems, routers, and firewalls must be a priority to patch any vulnerabilities. 

With Omada’s cloud management, you can automate firmware updates across all your connected devices. This has become an easy task, keeping every access point, switch, and gateway protected without manual work.

2. Use Antivirus and Firewalls

Your system is like a building that houses information inside. And to protect them, you need strong defense so that malicious data cannot enter. Here is where firewalls and antivirus come in. They are like barriers that block external attacks and unauthorized access.

Omada integrates seamlessly with network firewalls and security gateways. It provides multiple layers of protection that extend from your router down to individual devices.

3. Educate Your Employees

No matter how strong your defense against cyberattack is, it can do nothing against human error. In fact, most cyber incidents start with a mistake of an employee clicking on a malicious link or opening a fake attachment. 

Training staff for cyberattacks should, therefore, be the best effort. They should avoid opening suspicious emails or attachments. They must be able to distinguish and verify URLs before keying in credentials.

The use of strong and unique passwords is also important to make it hard for hackers to enter the system through your account. The management should be informed if there are any suspicious activities. Employees are encouraged to promptly report them to their superiors. 

Cybersecurity is thus a shared responsibility. As members of an organization, everyone should be aware of the possible attacks faced.

4. Use Business-Grade Network Security

Building a comprehensive security system is important for your company to safeguard data, systems, and networks. With Omada SDN, your IT team can manage all devices from one secure platform. Your network devices, including all access points, switches and routers, are integrated into a centralized cloud management system, making it easier to control in a single interface.

Your IT team can set up VLAN segmentation and enforce access control rules that limit exposure. For instance, your guest Wi-Fi network can be separated from internal data systems in just a few clicks, all visible from a single dashboard.

5. Strengthen Cloud and Web Security

As businesses grow, more data are being added to the cloud space. To protect this online storage and communication, you can adopt cloud security tools. They can encrypt data and monitor logins. 

Omada’s unified network structure supports secure VPN tunnels, allowing remote workers to connect safely from anywhere.

6. Create an Incident Response Plan (IRP)

Preventive measures are useful but no organization is completely immune to cyberattacks. With an IRP in place, your team can act fast when breaches happen. This can minimize downtime and losses. 

Your IRP should have a clear outline so that the organization can respond accordingly. They should also have a data backup to prevent any data losses and follow recovery protocols. The IT team should have defined roles to manage the incident.

7. Segment and Monitor Your Network

The scale of cyberattacks could quickly spread across the system if it is not discovered immediately. With the help of network segmentation, attacks can be isolated to a smaller subnetwork.

Omada allows you to create VLANs to isolate either a department or a device. In combination with real-time monitoring and alerts, one would be able to detect suspicious activities well before their occurrence in posing a serious threat.

8. Partner With Certified IT Providers

Cybersecurity isn’t a one-time setup. As cybercriminals continue to evolve, so should your network security. 

Reliable IT providers can design, deploy and maintain networks. And having them can benefit your business and decrease the risk of exploits and data breaches.

Stay One Step Ahead with Omada

Cybercrime is constantly evolving, but your defense can evolve faster. With Omada’s intelligent, unified cloud management, you can monitor, update, and protect every corner of your business network from just one secure dashboard.

Smarter control. Stronger protection. That’s the Omada difference!

Here are our top picks to help you prevent cybercrime today!

Omada Cloud-Based Controller: This tool enables centralized management of network devices (routers, access points, and switches) from the cloud. It can detect abnormal behavior and enforce policies such as blocking malicious URLs and isolating devices—which helps prevent hackers or malware from spreading inside a network.

Omada Multi-Gigabit VPN Router: Advanced WAN and LAN features such as load balancing, VPN, and more are offered by these routers. They keep the edges of the network secure by encrypting data through VPNs, managing access points, backups, and VPNs, and lessening the risk of external cyber threats like unauthorized access and compromised WAN links.

Omada Managed Switches: Switches help prevent cybercrimes through network segmentation so that if any one part is compromised, it doesn't offer a free pass to all, and in controlling and monitoring traffic, policy enforcement is done at a lower layer to help contain an internal threat and lateral movement by an attacker.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why should businesses be concerned about cybercrime?

Even small or mid-sized businesses are prime targets for cybercriminals. A single data breach can result in financial losses, damaged reputation, and loss of customer trust.

2. What role do employees play in cybersecurity?

Employees are the first line of defense. Proper training on email safety, password management, and safe internet practices helps prevent human errors that often lead to cyberattacks.

3. How can Omada’s network solutions help prevent cybercrime?

Omada provides secure routers, managed switches, and cloud-based controllers that allow centralized monitoring, access control, and real-time threat detection—helping businesses safeguard their networks from unauthorized access and data breaches.

4. How often should I update my cybersecurity measures?

Cyber threats evolve constantly. Review and update your security protocols at least every six months, or immediately after any major system or software change.