If you are thinking that your business is too small to be targeted by cyber criminals, think again. Many hackers think of small businesses as “low hanging fruit,” or as easy targets, since they don’t have big cyber security budgets to prevent an attack. The statistics also prove this to be true.
A recent survey by Devolutions found that 52% of SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses) have experienced a cyber attack in the past year. 10% of those SMBs have experienced 10 or more in the past year. Despite this, 40% do not have a comprehensive and up-to-date cyber security incident response plan.
If you find yourself running a SMB and are not sure what to do, having an up-to-date cyber response plan is a great start. By knowing what the plan is before an attack, it can help your business reduce the time it takes to recover from an attack. According to the Acronis 2021 SMB Cyber Threat Landscape Report, every hour of downtime costs $250,000. The quicker you can recover, the less money you will lose due to a breach.
In addition to having a cyber plan, your SMB should also consider doing the following:
- Backup your data
This is the most important thing you can do to protect yourself from a potential ransomware attack. Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts your data, and to get it back you need a decryption key, one that the hackers will sell to you. Having offline and offsite backups ensures that you can restore the data yourself and not need to pay a ransom for the decryption key.
- Use multifactor authentication everywhere possible
Stolen passwords for accounts are a big problem. By using multifactor authentication, you make it more difficult for a cyber criminal to break into your systems. Multifactor authentication adds an extra layer by requiring the users to not just enter a valid password, but to also enter a one-time code generated by token or SMS message.
- Hire a professional for their expertise
For many small business owners, the thought of having to hire one or two full time staff members to look after cyber security is daunting. In addition to the skills shortage being a real thing, most small business owners cannot afford to hire full time cyber security staff. Instead, you should look to hire a cyber security company to manage cyber security for you. An MSSP (Managed Security Services Provider) is an invaluable partner that can help you manage many aspects of cyber security, like offsite backups, vulnerability management and remediation, incident response planning and 24x7 support.
If your SMB requires cyber security expertise, trust the experts at QuickProtect. QuickProtect’s services include offline and offsite backups of your data, 24/7 On-demand cyber security & IT assistance, incident response planning, and endpoint protection. Contact us today to help you protect your business.
