The Consequences of Cyberattacks on Small Businesses

1. The Consequences of Cyber- attacks on Small Businesses Long before cyber-attacks or even just the Internet was actually a thing, there was a popular television game show called ‘Truth or Consequences’ where contestants could choose between truthfully answering a very difficult question, and paying the consequences of not answering, which meant performing some kind of slightly embarrassing stunt on the air. Most contestants preferred to avoid the potentially awkward consequences and instead answered the question. Fast forward 60 plus odd years later, and there’s a new game in town, at least when it comes to businesses, only in the new game, the choice is between protection and consequences, and the consequences, rather than being a little embarrassing, can be devastating. You guessed it; we’re talking about choosing to protect your businesses against cyber-attacks or choosing to suffer the consequences of those attacks.

2. The new game: ‘Protection or Consequences’ Much like the contestants who prudently chose ‘truth’ to avoid the consequences of doing something embarrassing, businesses would be wise to choose protection to avoid the consequences of a cyber-attack, which are infinitely more severe than whatever a game show could throw at you. And they’re particularly severe for small businesses, which often don’t have the resources to recover from a cyber-attack. In fact, according to cnbc.com, sixty percent of small businesses go out of business within six months of a cyber attack. Neither do they have the resources to invest in strong cyber defenses, leaving them more vulnerable to cyber-attacks than large enterprises that do have the resources, and making them very attractive targets for hackers. The same CNBC study reports that 43 percent of cyberattacks are aimed at small businesses. However, only 14% of small businesses are prepared to defend themselves.

3. The protection The good news is that protection is available for all businesses, large or small, and is both cost- efficient and effective. To begin with, there is powerful antivirus software available that are really good at detecting and preventing cyber-attacks, with some achieving a 100% detection rate. There is even free antivirus for small business solutions that let businesses test the solution for compatibility, user-friendliness, effectiveness, impact on system performance and other important considerations before committing to its purchase.

4. For businesses looking for an antivirus solution, it’s essential to find a small business managed antivirus that provides real-time threat protection and removal for all your business’ computers, not just one of them. Equally important, the antivirus solution should also provide protection from ransomware, so your files can’t be encrypted and held for ransom, protection from unwanted software to keep unwanted and potentially dangerous programs off your computers. microphone and camera protection so hackers can’t spy on important business conversations and meetings, and Internet security so you and your employees can browse the Internet securely without fear of unknowingly surfing to malicious websites. Protecting your business also means implementing strict cybersecurity measures such as strong password protocols to thwart brute force attacks that try to guess business passwords, making sure all software is up-to-date so software vulnerabilities can’t be exploited, educating employees about cyber- attacks and how to recognize and avoid them, and limiting access to data and computer systems to only the people who need the access to do their job.

5. The consequences What happens if you don’t choose protection? Simply put, the consequences are intense and can even be devastating. The average cost of a cyber attack for a business is $200,000 per single incident, and the list of potential direct and indirect costs and consequences is long and staggering. Here are just a few of the potential consequences that businesses may suffer after a cyberattack: ● Systems repair costs ● Extortion costs from ransomware ● Fines and remediation costs ● Stolen funds ● Downtime costs such as lost productivity and lost revenue

6. ● Lost business opportunities ● Data recovery and security breach mitigation costs ● The cost of additional work hours needed for the recovery effort ● Public relations costs ● Customer notification costs ● Increased insurance premiums ● Reputational damage ● Loss of intellectual property ● Civil lawsuits from customers and/or business partners Winning the ‘Protection or Consequences’ game For a long time, the prevailing wisdom was that small businesses were too small to attract the attention of cybercriminals. While this may have been true at one time, it’s far from true today. Not only are small businesses more vulnerable than large businesses, but they’re also too irresistible to ignore.

7. For hackers, small businesses are the low-hanging fruit that can not only yield ransom payments and valuable customer information for selling on the dark Web, but they might also yield a ‘gateway’ entry into a larger organization. There is simply way too much potential value to be gained by hacking small businesses for cybercriminals to resist. But remember the good news: With powerful endpoint protection and strong cybersecurity hygiene, you can beat the game.