Preventing Cyber Attacks, Part 1: How Residents Can Protect Your HOA

Ignorance is not bliss, especially when it means potentially leaving your homeowners association (HOA) at risk of a cyber attack. And that’s exactly what you’re doing if you don’t recognize that your HOA is as much of a target as any other small business.
 
Small businesses, including those in California, have become more attractive to cyber criminals, as a variety of sources indicate. For example, the February 2016 California Data Breach Report notes that small businesses accounted for 15 percent of the data breaches reported to the California Attorney General from 2012 through 2015. California, which was the first state to mandate data breach reporting, continues to tweak its legislation, with the most recent change likely to impact its future analyses. As of 2017, encrypted data that is breached will be subject to the same notification requirements as unencrypted data.
 
Another source that points to greater vulnerability among small businesses is Malware Trends for Small and Medium Businesses Q1 2017. It reports that California small- and medium-sized businesses experienced an increase of nearly 612 percent in spyware incidents from Q1 of 2016 to Q1 of 2017, ranking the state fifth in the country. In addition, an FBI report reveals that Californians lost more money to cyber crime in 2015 than any other state – more than $255 million.
 
Unlike other small businesses, your HOA is probably not run by business professionals and is even less likely to have technology experts among its leadership. So what can you do to keep your data safe?
 
In our three-part series, we share some tips that your association can apply to protect your community from cyber attacks. Read the first article to learn how residents can play a role in your HOA’s cyber security.