According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the pressure is mounting on small and medium businesses (SMBs), as they must get their cyber preparedness correct or the next cyber attacks could prove disastrous.
We’ve known for years that SMBs are a target of cyber attacks, and with the cyber crime economy growing, more threat actors are realizing the value of flying “under the radar” by targeting small business versus large infrastructure companies where an attack would draw the attention of the FBI.
According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's first-quarter small-business index, 60% of small businesses say they are concerned about cybersecurity threats, while 27% of them believe a single threat incident would put them out of business.
It’s somewhat reassuring that the majority of small businesses (73% of them) feel prepared for cybersecurity threats. While there’s no specific data on how exactly in the report, the growing use of Managed Service Providers who utilize security solutions designed to provide even the smallest business with the same levels of protection as their enterprise counterparts makes me hopeful.
The report did mention that just under half of small businesses (48%) say they have trained their staff on cybersecurity measures. This concerns me a bit, as many organizations believe having some quarterly breakroom training, etc. is enough. What’s necessary – even for the SMB – is continual security awareness training to ensure employees remain vigilant always (and not just a few days after breakroom training).
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