One of the most famous data breaches in history was the exposure of 40 million credit card credentials from Target in December 2013. This attack was one of the reasons credit card companies moved to have chips on credit cards to ensure privacy. Not many know this breach resulted from a business-to-business relationship Target had with a small business in Pennsylvania.

Upon investigation, it was found that Target was hacked using the system credentials it had provided to a small heating and air conditioning company. The credentials were first compromised when the hackers compromised the small business, then the cyber criminals were able to log in to the Target network, install malware and ultimately hack the much bigger fish!

ZDNet published an article discussing the details of how this breach occurred. If you think that you are not at risk because you are a small business, think again. Many small businesses have relationships with larger corporations, many times they are given credentials to their network for valid reasons. These corporations depend on the small business to care and protect their vital information.

Imagine if your business was that small company—what type of impact would that have on your business? This is excellent reading for any small business owner with business-to-business operations.