You may be small, but your risk of cyberattacks has never been greater. Did you know that last year 70% of ransomware attacks hit businesses with under 500 employees?
Small Businesses Are Targets
It’s easy to assume cybercriminals only target major enterprises. These large organizations have mountains of valuable and sensitive data across their environments and critical operations that, if disrupted or taken down, can result in millions of dollars in lost revenue and reputational damage.
But while breaches of large organizations make news headlines, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are also at risk. An SMB often lacks a dedicated cybersecurity team, and it may not have the modern cybersecurity software, skills or resources to protect itself. And SMBs, like larger businesses, also hold valuable, sensitive data such as employee and customer records, financial transaction information, intellectual property and access to business finances and larger networks critical to their success.
SMB Cybercrime by the Numbers
Cybercriminals recognize both the vulnerability and value of SMBs, viewing them as easy prey ripe for compromise, ransomware, and data theft. As governments and organizations around the globe increase funding for cybersecurity, the market, and regulatory pressure to avoid the spotlight continues to mount, making SMBs ideal targets for various threat actors and cybercriminal organizations.
Cyberattacks always carry significant consequences, but to SMBs they can be devastating. In 2021, IBM found the average cost of a data breach to a small business was $2.98 million USD.
Such impact can be more than enough to end the life of a company.
- 50% of SMBs lack the resources or tools necessary to protect their business 24/72
- 61% of small businesses experienced a breach in the last year
- 70% of ransomware attacks in 2021 hit businesses with <500 employees4
Cyberattacks come in many forms, from ransomware and phishing attacks to the theft of sensitive data such as intellectual property and personal information of employees and customers.
Below are some of the common attacks cybercriminals use to gain access and compromise your systems and data:
- Malware: Malicious programs and code developed by attackers to manipulate or otherwise compromise computer systems, networks, applications and data.
- Malware-free attacks: Fileless infections that don’t write anything to disk and use built-in tools to move laterally and compromise your environment.
- Vulnerabilities: Weaknesses in systems and applications that cybercriminals exploit to gain unauthorized access to a computer system.
- Phishing: Primarily email-based scams that impersonate credible people and organizations to steal credentials or sensitive information.
- Compromised credentials: Stolen identity and account data (e.g., username and password) used to access systems and networks masked as legitimate users and perform various attacks.
- Insider threats: Employees who wittingly or unwittingly misuse, harm or otherwise exploit critical systems, networks or data.
- Zero-days: Previously unknown vulnerabilities and exploits that attackers leverage in planned and targeted attacks.
(Cyberattacks come in many forms: from ransomware and phishing attacks to the theft of sensitive data such as intellectual property and personal information.)