How to protect your small business from hackers

There have been numerous reports of rising threats to small businesses at the hands of cybercriminals. It’s a growing problem as small businesses struggle to protect themselves, mitigate breaches and, in some cases, remain functional.

What the statistics show

A recent survey found that only 9 percent of business owners admit their business was a cyberattack victim, but when given a list, 50 percent say their business has experienced at least one type of harmful cyber activity. Also troubling is that 64 percent do not have a dedicated employee or vendor in charge of detecting and combating cyberattacks. Clearly, this needs to change.

A report by FireEye and Marsh & McLennan Companies found that, on average, businesses take 146 days to detect a cyberattack. Think of the damage that can be done in that time.

Why small businesses are uniquely vulnerable

Small businesses are vulnerable because they simply don’t have the resources that large corporations do. The big companies can afford the best protections and dedicated staff to ensure that systems and data are safe, but this can prove to be much more challenging for a small business — especially one struggling to keep the doors open.

Cybercriminals understand this and target small businesses as a result. It’s often much easier for them to penetrate a small business’s security or move on and find the next one with its guard down. As security solutions provider TrendMicro notes , “For many SMBs, watching the budget is necessary to keeping the lights on and ensuring the business lives to operate another day. This leaves very little room for other initiatives or unexpected costs. Unfortunately, this lack of funds shows often in the security solutions that SMBs implement. Some organizations have the basics while others don’t have anything at all, relying on their size to avoid the attention of cybercriminals.”

Scot Ganow, co-chairman of the Privacy and Data Security practice group at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, thinks companies simply don’t understand why cybercriminals target small businesses. “They mistakenly think they do not have the data the bad guys would want, are not big enough, or are not located in a big city where such hacks occur,” he says. “A company’s size and location are often irrelevant to why an attack is launched.”

What cybercriminals target within small businesses

A recent survey found that half (50 percent) say their business has experienced at least one type of harmful cyber activity: computer virus (27 percent); phishing (25 percent); Trojan horse (9 percent); ransomware (7 percent); hacking (6 percent); unauthorized access to customer information (6 percent); unauthorized access to business information (6 percent); issues due to unpatched software (6 percent); and data breach (6 percent).

A CloudNexus report indicates that the data at most risk within small businesses include: authentication data, personal health information, credit card information, proprietary data, social security numbers and financial transactions.