Here’s why Small Businesses are finally taking Cybersecurity seriously

Small Business Administration reveals that about 30 million small businesses have half of the total workforce of the United States working for them.

Large companies possess sufficient funds and resources to strengthen their digital assets. To deal with the current wave of data breaches, they have begun to take cybersecurity very seriously.

Due to this, hackers and digital thieves have turned their focus on small- and mid-sized businesses who lack the finances to invest in digital security measures.

According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, 1 out of 5 small businesses become a victim of cybercrime each year.

Unfortunately, 60% of them end up going out of business within six months after the attack as the consequences of cybercrimes are massively destructive.

Small Businesses and Cybersecurity

Most small businesses believe that hackers have no motivation to come after small businesses.

A survey studied 1,000 small business owners and found that 85 percent of respondents think that large enterprises are more vulnerable than SMBs.

As a result, small enterprises pay little or no attention to cybersecurity and became easy targets for hackers.

Hackers are aware of the SMB’s inability to fight against these threats and their lack of resources, experience, and funds.

Why Hackers are after Small Businesses?

Here are the two main reasons behind how hackers have begun to come after small businesses with the same zeal as for larger enterprises:

•       Small Businesses Possess the Information Hackers Want 

Small businesses do not face as many risks as larger enterprises, but the risk is still there.

In 2017, 7.4% of small business owners suffered data fraud, says Council of Better Business Bureaus.

Small businesses store a lot of customer employee information, which makes them prime targets for hackers. Usually, these hackers focus on online banking credentials and social security numbers.

Their main goal is to get hold of cash. That’s why a business should keep the client banking information as safe as possible. Businesses should ensure that they take all the necessary security measures.

•       Cybercrimes Are Rapidly Evolving 

Trend Micro research reveals that 3.5 new threat surfaces every second, citing money as a key motivation. Thus, small businesses need to become vigilant.

The main two reasons for this alarming increase are:

1. Small businesses exist in large numbers, providing hackers with a huge market for corruption.
2. Large businesses religiously invest in business security today. Therefore, hackers are now targeting smaller businesses. And finding ways to penetrate the new defenses put in place by large businesses.

How small businesses came to take cybersecurity threats seriously?

Let’s take a look at few more numbers that led the small businesses to this change. 70% of small businesses suffered a cyberattack in 2017 as per the findings of a Ponemon study.

Half of them admitted having no understanding of how to protect their data from a business. This is a huge problem as the average cost of a data breach for a small enterprise could go up to $149,000.
Also read: 9 Best Cybersecurity Companies in the World

Here are the reasons why small businesses are now paying attention to their security model actively:

1. Data breaches come at a big cost

Data breaches cost the business a lot of money. And they are consistently rising. The data breaches have the power to destroy businesses and hit a massive blow to the reputation of the business.

On average, a data breach can cost a business about $25,000. And this is only the average. They can go out of your control within minutes.

Your business loses the trust of the customers and clients that is equally damaging as the financial costs. It takes a long time to recover from something like this and get more customers later on.

2. You are responsible for your client data

When you form your customer database, the clients trust you with their information. So, you have a moral as well as legal responsibility to keep this data safe and ensure that it doesn’t get in the wrong hands.

If you fail to maintain privacy, not only the customer can lose their trust in you, but sue you for damages as well.

You must establish the necessary safety measures in the business. No unauthorized personnel should have access to client records. Select a few trustworthy employees for the task. Monitor your employee activities, too.

If you have a small setup, no particular hierarchy, and everyone has access to all details of the business, it calls for sharp employee monitoring. In such a scenario, using the Xnspy employee monitoring app could relieve you from a lot of trouble just in time.

The app comes with plenty of monitoring features that let the employers stay on top of the digital activities of their employees during work hours.

Since many companies provide phones to their employees, these phones can pre-installed with Xnspy. If the employees are smart enough, they would know their activities are going to be in check.

Xnspy monitors text messages, call logs, emails, web browsing history, and the frequently used apps so not that you can check the employee performance and productivity, but also catch a mole in the act leaking sensitive business information.

Encrypt your website with an SSL certificate so that the information that customers submit on your website remains secure and safe.

3. The Risk of Portable devices and gadgets

The modern workplaces are far more flexible compared to that in the previous years.

A large number of companies let their employees work from home and also allow them to bring their own devices to work.

Although it sounds convenient and saves the company a lot of costs, it comes with its own set of risks. Storing important and sensitive information on personal devices makes them vulnerable to theft or loss.

Also, there is the issue of public Wi-Fi, which is not safe always. If an employee uses unsecured Wi-Fi to access information from the company’s servers, an unauthorized third party can potentially steal this information and intercept valuable data. Business owners must also necessitate the use of a VPN for a secure connection.

4. IoT devices have security issues

We are living in digital times with IoT devices on the rise. Although IoT has brought along with it numerous advantages in every industry and lead to a massive improvement in businesses, there is the matter of security. Hackers can easily get into these devices and cause havoc if you are not careful.

If your IoT equipment and other smart devices get compromised, it could lead to damage in thousands of dollars.

These devices are not particularly safe. To stay safe, thoroughly assess the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of these devices before you connect them to the network.

5. The reputation of your business 

Nowadays, no business can make a place for itself unless it creates an online web presence for itself.

This has become the criteria to determine the authenticity and reputation of a business. This asks for additional security measures.

If the hackers end up taking control of your website, there is a lot more at stake apart from valuable data.

The brand’s image takes a massive hit. You lose customer trust that might have taken you years to build.

In such a situation, you would have to use all of your resources to rectify the situation. But it is a costly solution that small businesses cannot afford.

In a nutshell, small businesses should understand that cybercriminals do not discriminate and attack any weak security system no matter the business size.

Having the right safety precautions in place and adopting the right practices saves the business a huge amount of money.

Huzayfah Habib

Huzayfah Habib is a blog writer, newsletter, and article writer. He is also a Book Editor. He is a medical student. He likes to travel, read books, watching movies and he is much obsessed with time-traveling.

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