The growth of cybercrime will cost the global economy more than $2 trillion by 2019, according to the Better Business Bureau’s 2017 State of Cybersecurity Among Small Businesses in North America report.
Cost of a Cyber Attack
When it comes to small businesses, the report said the overall annual loss was estimated at almost $80K or $79,841 on average. And as more small businesses become equal parts digital and brick-and-mortar, securing both aspects of their company is more important than ever.
The risks small business owners face in the digital world has increased their awareness of the dangers of this ecosystem. A survey conducted by GetApp in 2017 revealed security concerns ranked second as the challenges small businesses were facing.
In its report GetApp says, small businesses have to implement a multipronged approach with defense mechanism designed to “Ward off attacks from different fronts.”
However, the company doesn’t forget to address the challenges small business owners face when it comes to tackling cybersecurity with limited budgets and IT expertise while at the same time running their business.
Adopting a Small Business Cybersecurity Strategy
Why is adopting a cybersecurity strategy important for small businesses? Because according to eMarketer, in 2017 retail e-commerce sales globally reached $2.304 trillion, which was a 24.8 increase over the previous year.
Of this total, mCommerce accounted for 58.9% of digital sales and overall eCommerce made up 10.2% of total retail sales worldwide in 2017, an increase of 8.6% for the year.
What this means for small businesses is they can’t afford not to be part of this growing trend in digital commerce. They have to ensure the digital platform they have protects their organization and customers whether they are on a desktop, laptop or mobile device.
Have Clear Goals and Objectives
When it comes to cybersecurity, having clear goals and objectives will greatly determine the success of the tools, processes, and governance you put in place to combat cybercriminals.
According to GetApp, with the right cybersecurity solution in place, your small business will be able to detect and prevent a cyber-attack before it takes place.
It is important to note, there is no such thing as 100% security, whether it is in the digital or physical world. Given enough time and resources, bad actors may be able to find a vulnerability in any system. The data breaches at some of the largest organizations in the world are proof of this fact.
As a small business, your goal is to make it as difficult as possible for these bad actors to penetrate the security protocols you have in place.
Don’t Rely on a Single Solution
The GetApp report says small businesses have to fortify their organization against different threats emerging from multiple fronts.
The company says there is no single cybersecurity solution which offers complete defense against all the different types of threats that are out there. At any given time a small business can be under attack from a distributed denial of service or DDoS attack, ransomware attacks, cryptojacking, and others.
To address these challenges, GetApp recommends small businesses to implement a cybersecurity strategy with investments which include a combination of antivirus, firewall, spam filter, data encryption, data backup, and password management applications.
Last but not least, even if you have the best system in place, you have to stay vigilant at all times. Cybercriminals rely on complacency.
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