They may not hit the headlines, but that doesn’t mean that cyberattacks on small and mid-sized businesses aren’t devastating. In fact, without the security resources of their larger counterparts, cyberattacks can be even more financially and reputationally crippling for SMBs. Almost half of all cyberattacks are now targeting SMBs, particularly those in the legal, insurance, retail, financial, and healthcare sectors. And with attacks on these SMBs increasing by 150% in the past two years, it’s vital that business leaders act now to strengthen their cyber defense.
What kind of cyberattacks do SMBs face?
42% of SMBs admitted to experiencing a cybersecurity breach, with the most common type of threat being malware like spyware, viruses, keyloggers, and ransomware. Data breaches, website hacking, and DDoS attacks are also common security threats for SMBs. Social engineering attacks, whereby malicious actors manipulate employees to offer up confidential information, also heavily target smaller businesses, with organizations under 100 employees experiencing 350% more social engineering attacks than larger enterprises.
Many of these attacks are opportunity-driven, stemming from incidents up or down the supply chain. Threat actors may target larger service providers as a way into the networks of various other smaller businesses, or infiltrate smaller businesses as a gateway into larger organizations. Either way, SMBs often find themselves caught in the crossfire. Growing companies are now faced with the same frequency and attack types as larger organizations, but they often lack the same layers of security needed to detect and remediate them.
A lack of resources and weaker defenses
A major reason why SMBs don’t have the security measures that larger organizations do is the lack of resources. Without the large budgets and security teams that bigger companies have, SMBs lack the time to focus on cybersecurity; an issue exacerbated by the long-established cybersecurity skills gap. These same challenges are the reason why one-third of SMBs use only free or built-in cybersecurity tools, rather than investing in personalized or specialized solutions.
However, despite 30% of small businesses in the US having weak points that bad actors can exploit, 56% of small business owners are not concerned about becoming the victim of a hack in the following 12 months. Without concern from business leaders, cybersecurity investment will diminish and SMBs may not realize its importance until it’s too late.
As with attack types, the consequences of a cyberattack do not differ based on the size of the organization targeted. Attacks can halt business operations indefinitely, putting employees’ livelihoods at stake and costing millions in lost revenue and recovery. Attacks can also cause reputational damage and a loss of trust with customers, partners, and clients, blemishing a brand long after it recovers from an incident. And for SMBs, any lost revenue, customers, lenders, or partners can be detrimental to the growth of their business. While larger businesses have greater funds and support for breach recovery, 60% of SMBs that are forced to suspend operations after a cyberattack are never able to reopen for business.
Harnessing enterprise-level protection
If SMBs are facing the same cyberattacks as larger organizations, then their cybersecurity solutions should be the same too. But any cybersecurity solution cannot overburden smaller security teams and must be able to suit an SMB budget.
Enter CleanINTERNET, the cyber threat intelligence service that provides superior protection from 99% of all known threats. CleanINTERNET aggregates over 3,500 cyber threat feeds for you, providing a level of protection that is usually only available to larger organizations. Our experienced threat hunters work on behalf of your team to monitor and analyze emerging and zero-day threats that are relevant to your business, no matter its size or industry.
Our service saves millions of dollars on separate cyber threats feeds and is offered at an affordable and scalable annual subscription model that grows as your business grows. And with easy deployment that gets you up and running fast, your business can improve its cybersecurity posture without impacting business operations. CleanINTERNET gives SMBs peace of mind through enterprise-class defense, at a scale and price suited to any business.
See how CleanINTERNET caters to mid-sized organizations here and find out more about the cyber skills gap here.
