There are some very common misconceptions about cybersecurity for small business – very common. They usually sound something like this: “I’m too small for cyber crooks to target.” Or, “I don’t have anything worth stealing, so I’m good”.
Well, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), that simply is… not… true.
In fact, anyone with an online footprint, from homemakers to entrepreneurs and from small business owners to CEOs can become victimized by a cyberattack.
Still not convinced you need to focus more attention on security? Maybe these quick stats from SmallBizTrends.com will help:
- Nearly half (43%) of cyber-attacks target small businesses.
- 48 percent of data security breaches are caused by acts of malicious intent. (Human error or system failure account for the remaining 52%.)
- 60 percent of small companies go out of business within six months of a cyber-attack.
If that last one doesn’t make you sit up and take notice, perhaps nothing will!
Even if you believe you’re not worth the effort of being attacked, is it worth it to ignore the possibility? Because, here’s the thing, if you are a victim of a cyber-attack, you have a six in ten chance of not being able to recover! That means the odds are NOT in your favor so, just in case, you need to act now to protect your business from a cyberattack!
Most Common Cyberattacks on Small Businesses
The fact that it’s pretty much impossible to compete in the marketplace without a business website these days puts all companies, from the smallest to the largest, at risk of a cyberattack.
Whether your business is the target of a direct hack on your servers (an SQL injection attack) or an employee clicks on a malicious link in an email (a phishing attack), you’ve been victimized by one of the most popular cyberattacks on small businesses. Add to these the possibility of malware, trojans, viruses, and/or ransomware attacks and it becomes clear that your small business requires more than wishful thinking about being too small for anyone to waste their time on a cyberattack.
In fact, with the average attack now costing SMBs about $200,000 to recover, along with losses from pandemic-related lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, bankruptcy becomes not just a possibility – it becomes more than likely. (GoPTG.com)
Further, and in addition to potential recovery costs, you may never be able to recover stolen data, your own or your customer’s. While the first can make it anywhere from difficult to impossible to recover, the second can lead to lawsuits that will virtually guarantee your business won’t survive.
More to Come
There is a great deal more to say on the subject of cybersecurity for small businesses and we will follow up with that in future posts. For now, our goal is simply to get you thinking about how vulnerable your business may be, the costs of recovering, and to share other sources of information. That includes, in addition to the links above, a highly informative PDF from the FTC, titled Cybersecurity for Small Business.
It’s a free download you can use as a guide for protecting your small business from the devastating effects of a cyberattack.
If you have more questions about cybersecurity for small business and how you can protect yours, get in touch with VBP today.