Why is Cybersecurity Essential for Small Businesses?

Cybersecurity is a common term for every business but how seriously is it taken? Small businesses often have no budget set aside for cybersecurity which means no security team or vendors. It’s a misconception that small businesses go unnoticed by cybercriminals. Small businesses are more vulnerable to cybercrime than large enterprises; research says that 71% of cybercrimes impact businesses with less than 100 employees. While bigger victims grab news headlines and survive with insurance or counter plan in place, smaller companies die a slow death due to loss of reputation and resources.

Top Small Business Cyber Security Statistics 2023

Here are the top cyber security statistics for small businesses 2023, involving small businesses’ data breaches and cyber attacks:

1. Accenture’s Cybercrime study reveals that nearly 43% of cyber-attacks on small businesses.
2. Only 14% of these accounted SMBs are prepared to face such an attack.
3. On average, SMBs spend between $826 and $653,587 on cybersecurity incidents.
4. 95% of cybersecurity breaches are attributed to human error.
5. The next five years are due to see a 15% increase in cybercrime costs reaching 10.5 trillion by 2025.

Four major impacts that small businesses have to experience after a cyberattack:

Shaken Reputation:

Once a victim of cybercrime, one of the major things a small organization loses is its hard-earned reputation. A small company has to work hard to earn the trust of its partner organizations and clients. A security breach makes potential clients and partners feel insecure about collaborating with the company; they wonder if their data would be safe if they work with a company that has no security procedure in place.

Irrecoverable Financial Loss:

Security breaches create a messy affair and small business end up being bankrupt in the process of clearing mess. Additionally, hiring security experts or collaborating with a security vendor to fix the situation adds up to the cost.

Ousting Of Important Resources:

A data breach impacts the career of anyone whose negligence has caused the security breach. Organizations have to invest time with the exit formalities and invest afresh on a new resource.

The Fight To Survive:

What follows a security breach puts a question mark on the survival of the company. Research shows that 60% of small business who have been a victim of cybercrime couldn’t bounce back. Larger enterprises have the potential to survive the losses caused by cyber-attacks with the aid of investors or existing big clients. Smaller organizations lose out on reputation, finances, potential business and often existing ones.

How to Stay Prepared For Cyber Attacks?

Enterprise security is essential for all businesses- big or small. It’s great to start with keeping a response plan in place in case a security breach takes place. It is important to build an internal security team who can continuously monitor data security. It is also a great idea to consult with an expert security vendor as they are dedicated to cybersecurity and can suggest the latest ways to beef up your enterprise security. The collaboration with a security vendor would be a small investment that pays off in the long run. It is also important to educate the employees about the different kinds of traps that cybercriminals spread to breach security. Assessments should be conducted to keep employees updated and aware.

Small businesses are easy victims and it’s high time they focus on cybersecurity before it’s too late – Talk to Our Delivery Head