Why Cybersecurity is Important for Small Business
Small Business Cybersecurity Topics
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Importance of Cybersecurity in Business
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Why Cybersecurity is Important for Small Business
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Common Cybersecurity Threats to Small Business
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What is a Good Small Business Cybersecurity Plan?
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Types of Cybersecurity Solutions for Small Business
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Should Small Businesses Manage Cybersecurity In-house or Outsource?
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Cybersecurity is important for small business because all companies are really at risk, regardless of its size or industry.
Even organizations with their guard up can fall victim to an attack. The network of one organization recently was infected with malware and threatened to pay a ransom or else. The perpetrators warned that if cryptocurrency payment wasn’t made, they would release names of anonymous informants and documents regarding criminal investigations.
You read that right—anonymous informants and other non-public information from criminal investigations. This 2021 ransomware victim was the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington D.C., which shows that no entity with a computer network (or computers at employee homes) storing or accessing trade secrets, customer accounts, personal identifying information (PII), financial documents or proprietary (and valuable) information is safe from cybercrime.
We Know What You’re Thinking…
“We make sure our employees don’t share passwords, so we should be fine, right? After all, we’ve never had a problem in the past. And why would we? Our operation is too small to attract the attention of cybercriminals.”
“It’s organizations like Twitter, Uber, Capital One, Equifax, JPMorgan Chase, Marriott International and Colonial Pipeline that make headlines for data breaches. These are all huge enterprises, especially compared to our company. Why would anyone pick us?”
In 2019, three in four SMBs in the U.S. had reported a digital attack in the preceding year, according to Ponemon Institute. You just don’t hear about them because attacks on smaller businesses don’t make news like those involving global brands.
At TPx, many of our cybersecurity clients are SMBs. Sadly, most don’t turn to us for help until they’ve already been attacked. One of these victims-turned-clients lost $200,000 to ransomware just weeks after leadership asserted that the company was “too small to be at risk.”
Besides, there were too many other things going on. The business was growing, hiring people, launching products, etc. Who had time to shore up the company’s cybersecurity risk profile?
Looking Back, Executives Wish They Had Taken The Time
Not only is financial loss a consideration for shoring up defenses, but your company’s reputation is also at stake, even for smaller organizations that don’t get attention from headlines. When you get hacked, you will be legally required to inform every affected customer that their data may have been stolen. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), all states have enacted legislation requiring notification of security breaches involving personal information. Depending on the type of information accessed and where your business operates, there may be other laws or regulations you’re required to follow.
The risk of a breach is very real, and the cost is very high – significantly higher than threat prevention, detection and remediation solutions that are affordably available to SMBs today. We’ll discuss more about these later, but first, let’s drill down into the evolving threats to your cybersecurity.
Need to strengthen cybersecurity for your business?
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