October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and it's a good time to take stock of what you actually know versus what you think you know about cybersecurity. Not all of the advice businesses hear is accurate. Some has circulated for so long that it's repeated as fact even when it's outdated or incomplete.
When bad advice goes unchallenged, it creates blind spots. Those blind spots can create opportunities for cybercriminals, especially when a business assumes a particular product, policy, or practice has already taken care of the problem.
The good news is that many of these gaps are easier to address once you know where they are. Here are six cybersecurity myths we still hear from small business owners—and what you should know instead.
Myth 1. We’re too small for cybercriminals to care about
Being small doesn't make a business invisible. Cybercriminals don't always sit down and choose a company because of its size. Many attacks are opportunistic, which means an exposed account, compromised password, vulnerable system, or employee who can be deceived may provide an opportunity to get in.
Small businesses also have plenty worth protecting, including customer information, employee data, financial accounts, email systems, and connections to vendors or customers. Your size isn't your security strategy.
Fact: Cybercriminals can take advantage of opportunity regardless of company size.
Myth 2. Employees will recognize a phishing email
The classic phishing email was easy to make fun of: bad spelling, strange formatting, an unfamiliar sender, or a suspicious link asking you to "verify your account immediately." Those warning signs haven't disappeared, but they're no longer something you can count on.
Modern phishing messages can be polished and personalized. AI makes it easier to create convincing messages quickly, which means employees need to look beyond grammar and formatting. That's why businesses need to understand how phishing red flags are changing as scams become more convincing.
Instead of focusing only on how an email looks, consider the behavior behind it. Would this person normally make this kind of request? Would they change payment instructions by email, ask for sensitive information, send an unexpected login link, or create unusual urgency?
When something doesn't fit, verify the request through another trusted method before acting.
Fact: A convincing email can still be a scam.
Myth 3. MFA fully protects our accounts
Multi-factor authentication is an important cybersecurity control, but turning on MFA doesn't make an account invulnerable. Attackers may use techniques designed to get users themselves to approve access, including repeated authentication prompts intended to frustrate or confuse someone into approving a request.
That's why employees should know that an unexpected MFA notification deserves attention—not an automatic tap on "Approve." MFA works best as one layer within a broader security strategy that includes strong account security, employee awareness, appropriate access controls, and monitoring.
Fact: MFA is an important layer of security, not the entire security strategy.
Myth 4. Our backups have us covered
Here's a better question than "Do we have backups?"
Could we restore our data if we needed it tomorrow?
A backup may exist without giving you the recovery capability you expect. You need to know what's being backed up, whether backups are completing successfully, whether data can actually be restored, and approximately how long recovery could take. Regular backup testing is what turns that assumption into something your business can verify.
Those questions become much harder to answer for the first time during a ransomware attack, hardware failure or other disruption.
Fact: Having backups isn't the same as knowing you can recover.
Myth 5. Cybersecurity is only IT’s responsibility
Your IT team can manage security systems, protect accounts, monitor technology, and establish safeguards, but they can't make every decision for every employee. Cybersecurity decisions happen throughout the workday whenever someone decides whether to click a link, responds to an unusual vendor request, handles sensitive information, or receives an unexpected MFA notification.
That's why employee security awareness matters. Employees can also create cybersecurity risks from inside the business through mistakes, excessive access, credential sharing, or unsafe technology use.
The objective isn't to turn every employee into a cybersecurity expert. It's to give people enough knowledge to recognize when something deserves a second look—and make it easy to ask for help when they're unsure.
Fact: Employees who know how to recognize and report potential threats strengthen your cybersecurity defenses.
Myth 6. We know what to do if something happens
It's Tuesday morning, and several employees suddenly can't access their files. What happens next? Should employees turn off their computers? Who contacts IT? What happens if your normal communication systems aren't available? Who contacts your cyber insurance provider? Who decides whether customers need to be notified?
Those aren't questions you want leadership debating for the first time while an incident is unfolding. A documented incident response plan establishes responsibilities, communication procedures, and next steps before they're needed.
Having a plan isn't the final step, either. Your team needs to know where it is, understand its role, and review the plan as your business and technology change.
Fact: Your incident response plan shouldn't debut during an incident.
Cybersecurity awareness starts with the better questions
Cybersecurity Awareness Month isn't about trying to make every employee an expert. It's an opportunity to make sure the assumptions guiding your cybersecurity decisions still hold up.
Do we actually know our backups can restore? Would employees question an unexpected MFA request? Does everyone know how to report a suspicious message? Do we know what happens during a security incident?
Those questions are more useful than assuming you're covered because a particular product, policy, or process exists. Good cybersecurity starts with understanding where your actual risks are and making sure the people, technology, and processes around them are doing what you expect.
Ferrari Networks helps businesses across Buffalo and Western New York identify cybersecurity gaps, strengthen their defenses, and turn security from a collection of assumptions into a practical plan.
If some of these myths sound familiar, schedule a 10-minute discovery call. We'll help you take a closer look at what's protecting your business and where there may still be gaps.
