cybersecurity , SMBs

Cybercrime does far more harm than any person would imagine, and it becomes one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. It might cost us $6 trillion to fight by 2021. When companies like Yahoo or Equifax are hacked, it causes these crimes to grow astronomically in size, sophistication, and cost

From email communications and banking transactions to professional networking and collaborative working documents, companies invest in technology to communicate at all times and perform work effectively. However, when these channels of communication are threatened or even compromised, they can have a disastrous effect on the business.

Highlights of Cybercrimes

  • Cisco's 2018 SMB Cybersecurity Report found that in 26 countries, 53 percent of mid-market businesses suffered a breach.
  • Cyberattacks on SMBs have risen from 61 percent in 2017 to 67 percent in 2018, according to the 2018 State of Cybersecurity by the Ponemon Institute in Small & Medium-Sized Businesses report.
  • It was reported in Verizon's 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report that 58 percent of all cyberattacks target small businesses.
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Why SMBs Are Targeted?

Most small businesses mistakenly assume they are too small or trivial to be a victim of cyberattacks, but as larger businesses become serious about data security, small businesses are becoming increasingly attractive online fraud targets – often with devastating effects.

You are an attractive target for hackers, ransomware, viruses, malware or data breach if your business handles customer data digitally. Understanding the current digital landscape, the cyber threats and the consequences of ignoring your security responsibilities is something that SMBs should really care about.

Hackers found an indirect way across SMBs to hack/breach the most sophisticated defense systems found in large corporations. SMBs are not uncommon in offering their products/services to bigger organizations, thereby forming the lower section of the economic value chain. Because of this architecture, attackers now perceive SMBs as an easily exploited weak link allowing them to easily infiltrate broad corps networks.

The average cost for small businesses to recover after being hacked is about $690,000, according to the Ponemon Institute, and for middle-market enterprises, it hovers over $1 million. Such expenses pose a considerable financial burden for SMBs. In fact, the U.S. claims 60 percent of small businesses in the National Cyber Security Alliance are unable to maintain their company for more than six months after a cyber attack. This makes SMBs a lucrative target of a cyberattack since they are much more likely to pay a ransom to protect their company.

How Can SMBs Protect their business?

More SMBs Take Cyber Security Training More Seriously Over 75 percent of SMBs indicated that more attention should be on cybersecurity, and 89 percent said they found cybersecurity to be among the top five priorities for their company.

Furthermore, in the next year, 79 percent of respondents plan to spend more on cybersecurity preparation. Actually, 62 percent of SMBs believe they lack the ability to manage security threats on their own, and 52 percent feel completely unable to tackle newer types of attacks.

SMB Focus Areas Worried With Cyber Security Nearly 50 percent are most worried about data loss when it comes to specific concerns, while 43 percent are concerned about consumer loss and 39 percent are concerned about a reputation that is impaired. The study also found that 82 percent of SMBs are worried about stolen customer data, and 77 percent are worried about someone stealing private data for use outside the company.

Furthermore, after an attack, 77 percent of SMBs are worried about IT downtime, and 76 percent are concerned about the possibility of targeting customer-facing devices. Therefore, it’s no wonder that most SMBs want to work harder to prevent important features such as the finances of their company, customer data, employee data, and customer-facing apps.

SMBs Are Outsourcing Security Training to Managed Service Providers As cybersecurity becomes more of a leadership concern, SMBs are now looking to outsource training to managed service providers, or MSPs. Of the SMBs surveyed, 81 percent already use an MSP, with 45 percent attesting that all or most of their IT services are provided by their MSP.

Of the companies using an MSP, 47 percent said they felt they were well protected against any breaches of customer data and 46 percent felt protected from internal data breaches.

Using an MSP to train in security awareness saves organizations time and effort while offering them the timely resources they need to maintain a security awareness culture in the office.

The most effective way to prevent attacks and defend your company from these malicious threats is to work with MSPs. These include a full range of proactive IT support that focuses on advanced security, such as 24/7 surveillance, data encryption, and recovery, detection, and removal of real-time attacks, network and firewall safety, security awareness training, and more.

Not only that but since managed services are built to find and address weak spots in your IT infrastructure, you can automate your business processes ‘ digital backbone. You will have faster network efficiency, business continuity and a plan for recovery from disasters, as well as less downtime. One of the best things about managed services is having a dedicated team of IT experts ready to help you with any technical issues you may find. This is much more effective and budget-friendly than hiring in-house staff to handle all of the IT issues.

The only way to protect what you’ve worked hard to build is to be vigilant when it comes to cybersecurity. If you’d like to know more about how your business can benefit from managed services, just give us a call, we are here to help.

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