Both the United States’ Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) are seeing a growing use of COVID-19-related themes by malicious cyber actors. Cyber threat actors are acting as trusted entities, sending out phishing messages or malicious applications. Cybercriminals are using the pandemic for commercial gain, deploying ransomware and other malware. These actors are targeting individual users, small- to medium-size enterprises, and large corporations.

(Basically, everyone.)

You’ve finally decided to take the jump and open your own small business. The excitement is overwhelming, but you know you’re ready. The only thing is, you don’t exactly know where to start with funding. The ideal way would be to fund it completely out of pocket, but if that’s not possible for you (don’t worry—it’s not possible for most!), what do you do? Do you crowd source the money? Do you apply for loans? What type of loan can you apply for? Are there any grants available to help save you from taking out too many loans?