EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS) — The Secret Service says hackers are turning their attention to small businesses, and one entrepreneur suggests a step backwards could be helpful.

As WBBM Newsradio 780’s John Cody reports, Joe Angelastri, owner of the City Newsstand at Chicago Avenue and Main Street in Evanston, says Russian hackers got into his computer.

LISTEN: Newsradio 780′s John Cody reports

They planted software that lifted customer credit card numbers which were then sold for use around the world. He learned of it when the credit card company demanded he pay $22,000 for an audit.

“The safest way to do it is the old fashioned way, by telephone modem. Now we’ve switched to the Internet and that’s what made us vulnerable,” Angelastri said. “Some other things to do are to upgrade the passwords and the security.”

Angelastri says the credit card theft did not cost him customers at City Newsstand in Evanston or on Chicago’s West Side, but he says the audit cost hurt his bottom line, and made him install the highest security systems available to a small business owner.