Cybersecurity-Related Key Stats for Small Business Owners
Cybersecurity refers to the safeguarding of operating devices, networks, and personal computers (PCs) linked to the Internet. Since the dawn of the Internet, cybersecurity has become a real danger. This was only natural when individuals with nefarious motives began to profit from exploiting security flaws and manipulating information or stealing and corrupting data.
A variety of risks and loopholes may jeopardize any company’s or individual’s cybersecurity. Backdoors left by hardware and apps, code injection, cross-site scripting, viruses, ransomware, denial of service assaults, and so on are all examples. Each of them is capable of wreaking havoc on every device. Ransomware attacks, for example, enable hackers to not only steal data but also encrypt it before their demands are fulfilled, which are generally in the form of cryptocurrencies.
I will try to concentrate on cybersecurity for small to medium-sized company owners and entrepreneurs in this article. They are among the most insecure in this regard, and their lack of contingency arrangements, unlike large corporations and corporate conglomerates, may be tragic.
Small business owners and startups should be concerned with cyber protection.
Small company owners and startups, like any other business enterprise, are susceptible to cyberattacks. However, due to the above reasons, they must stay on top of their game to ensure that nothing terrible happens. However, several companies ironically do not take it seriously, believing that they have achieved plenty by just downloading antivirus apps. Of course, a data breach may occur for various reasons that are not often detectable by antivirus tools.
Some many unpleasant situations and incidents may arise with any company somewhere in the world. Cyber-attacks affect approximately 18 percent of companies on average, which is a significant amount. However, several companies believe that while they do not have a large client base, they are not prone to such assaults. Or they are not worth millions of dollars a year, but they are not vulnerable to those threats.
Allow me to clarify this argument so that you can grasp my point of view.
These companies take the method described in the preceding essay, which is entirely incorrect. People who engage in cyber-attacks are not always concerned about the scale of the business. It is this flaw that they aim to exploit, and even new companies may be targeted by a cyber-attack, even though they have only been open for a few weeks. Every weakness in their hosting server’s defense, for example, would undoubtedly be abused by those offenders. Since they cannot afford a luxury solution, they may go for low-cost dedicated servers.
How much do these cyber-attacks cost
According to an IBM survey, the estimated cost of a cyber-attack is $7.68 million. For instance, this is a significant sum for small business owners and startups, and in most situations, this would not affect them because SMBs do not fall under this group. However, the statistic given above was taken from all cyber-attacks that exist online. This covers Fortune 500 corporations as well as large global conglomerates.
According to one troubling estimate, more than 60% of small business owners targeted by a cyber-attack go out of business within six months. You might imagine this situation’s gravity and why cybersecurity is so essential to every company’s existence. People flocked to every e-commerce store and shopping portal they could find, particularly during the lockdown, resulting in significant profits for online businesses last year and even now. Customers who were happy with their favorite online store’s operation tended to buy online after that.
According to the same IBM survey, nearly 43% of small companies have no cybersecurity program in place. This is a blunder for which they would pay a high price since even a minor assault on their servers cost them a lot of money. And once their clients’ data were compromised, their future in the industry is jeopardized since certain companies will be the last nail in the coffin.
Concerns over endpoint protection
Bull guard’s study of 3,083 small enterprises paints a bleak image of the companies’ online protection measures. Endpoint authentication systems are neglected by 23% of SMBs in the UK and the US, and this is one of the leading causes of information security system breaches. Companies must consider a variety of situations, one of which is the usage of social networking.
Facebook is the most utilized and influential social networking website, and companies must ensure that they are using it to their full potential. However, Facebook’s official company accounts may also be compromised. Social networking pages can be compromised in the same manner as blogs can. Any of my followers are intrigued about what I can do for only a business’s official account. There are no limits on the possibilities. Allow me to give you two examples so you can see how serious this hack can be.
Theft of an Official Account Has Consequences
There have been cases when corporations and large firms’ official Facebook accounts have been compromised. And a fictitious status on these firms’ official Facebook pages may be tragic. In 2020, the Twitter accounts of big corporations and actors were leaked, which was one of the worst cases in the past. On July 15, 2020, the incident was confirmed. The hacker’s message included a promise to give away double Bitcoins for any single one sent to a fictitious address. And within minutes, the hacker had made about $100,000 in cash as the actors and business owners’ list became longer. The tweet hit millions of users thanks to celebrities including Barack Obama, Jeff Bezos, Floyd Mayweather, and Kim Kardashian, and thousands of them allegedly acted.
To guarantee that the account is quickly recovered, a Facebook hack notification must be submitted to the Facebook authority. Treat your company’s official social media pages with care, as any details released could contribute to hacking. And if you do not have any other protection mechanisms in effect, you will be able to run your website and social networking pages with complete peace of mind if you do.
