Think your business isn’t appealing to hackers?
Think again.
Every business relies on its customer base, employees, financial transactions, and other vital data to keep it running. Unfortunately, this is the same kind of information from which hackers profit. However, 82% of small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) still believe that they don’t have anything worth stealing. Instead of framing the ever-present question of cyber security as an “IF”, you should first look at “WHY” your business needs cyber security protection; and, trust us, it does.
According to the SEC, at least 50% of small businesses registered in the US alone have been breached in the past 12 months. The price of recovery has increased dramatically – from $8,699 in 2013 to $20,752 last year; to be clear, that’s a 250% increase in three years. Looking past the surveys and statistics, there are two major factors that answer the question of “WHY” your business’s cyber security protection should be a top priority:
Size
The size of a company, small, medium, or large, has little to no significance when hackers identify potential targets. In the media at large, much of the news stems from the significant cyber attacks involving national and international corporations – think Target, Home Depot, and Sony Pictures. And while cyber attacks on SMBs may not be as riveting, that doesn’t mean they occur any less frequently – if anything, SMBs are targeted more frequently than larger corporations. Consider the following:
- Companies with revenues of less than $100 Million per year have reduced cyber security spending.
- Of 400 small firms, 27% have absolutely no cyber security protocols in place.
- In this same study, 60% of respondents admitted to not creating greater protections even after experiencing a breach.
With these facts in mind, it makes perfect sense that these smaller shops are targeted – not only are they easy to breach, but if they are third party vendors to the larger corporations then hackers can use potential security gaps in their systems to get to the larger client(s). And while technical security gaps are troublesome but not entirely impossible to control, employees sometimes can be. This brings us to the next major reason SMBs need cyber security protection.
People
Employees, clients, and other people that come into contact with your company can be both a great asset and weakness. There are plenty of ways that attackers can infiltrate a network or host by suggesting or forcing indirect interaction with network users; most of the time this is the easiest way to get through initial security checks, if there are any in place. One wrong link clicked, one suspicious file downloaded, and your company could be locked in a battle royale with a hacker halfway around the world. One example is a small go-kart business in Maine. Because of a phishing attack, Maine Indoor Go-Karting was unable to issue paychecks on time because their bank account had been completely drained. Hackers will do just about anything to retrieve valuable data they can sell online for a significant profit. And if this happens to your company, revenue will suffer and so will your reputation, leaving your customer base with no choice but to move on to a competitor who can ensure the security of their data.
Now that you have the “WHY”, understanding and implementing the “HOW” is the next step toward cyber security protection. Having a company such as Neovera as your experienced cyber security protection team allows for peace of mind. We have over 15 years of experience in the field and are able to identify risks and outline specific, actionable steps to improve your cyber security posture. Your company, its data, and critical systems are completely protected as we pinpoint security threats inside and outside of your environment, and implement the necessary measures to prevent breaches and data loss.
Bottom Line
We protect your business from cyber attacks.