By Samantha Woollard (Internet Security Specialist) 27 February 2017
Small businesses believe that due to their size, they are an unlikely target for cyber attackers. But they could not be more wrong.
Perhaps ten years ago, when the chance of attack was much less than present day, it would be acceptable for businesses to think in that way. Just because your company does not have a huge revenue does not mean it is obscured to attackers’ sight. It is because of this reason that hackers have latched on to targeting smaller businesses; they are easier to penetrate due to the lack of security. Around 43% of cyber attacks target small businesses. This number has only been increasing in the past years and will continue to do so if nothing is done to stop it.
I can not emphasise more that the reason for an attack is not solely money. Loss of information and disruption can damage businesses and are also massive reasons for attack. Hackers want to destroy businesses and their reputations no matter if they have 2 employees or 20,000. It is estimated that over half of small businesses have not put any budget towards aiding their security and mitigating risks as they do not think that their business holds any valuable data. Even holding customers billing address, email address and phone numbers are classed as sensitive information and if you have promised your customers that this information will not be shared then it must be protected from theft.
After an attack, small companies can expect to lose an average of $1,150,000 and also expect an additional loss of an average of $1,250,000 due to disruptions within the business.
Do not wait to be hit by an attack to take action, by then the damage could be done. You can not just hope that you will not be a target, as now in 2017, no one is safe from the threats of cyber crime. Fortunately, Intact is here to help. Be prepared.
Relax. Your security is Intact.
Author: Intact Security
