Cybercriminals are thinking small: SMBs size up to be the perfect target

Cybercriminals are thinking small: SMBs size up to be the perfect target

According to the US Small Business Association, there are 28 million businesses with fewer than 500 employees in the United States alone. Of these, 22 million don’t have anyone on the payroll other than the owner, which leaves 6 million businesses with multiple people on the payroll. Inevitably, these businesses expand and require more advanced Internet services as they begin to amass substantial amounts of data about their customers. Unfortunately, this is often accompanied by the lack of a suitable IT infrastructure that puts customer data — and even the business itself — at risk.

Cybercriminals and large businesses

When cybercriminals hit large businesses, the results are usually fairly obvious, primarily because those businesses have in-house IT departments to prevent and detect such attacks. In light of such considerable resources, their security is generally of a higher caliber, and everyone knows it — especially cyber attackers.

Vulnerabilities, often due to oversights or poor management, will never go entirely unnoticed, however. In October 2015, TalkTalk, an Internet service provider in the United Kingdom, for example, experienced an attack that involved SQL injection — an elementary attack vector that was only possible due to TalkTalk’s failure to secure its websites and forms. Large enterprises do get hacked, but small businesses are often much easier targets.

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Cybercriminals and small businesses

SMBs make good targets largely due to their smaller pool of resources. This means there’s a higher chance of an improperly configured firewall or unpatched server due to the lack of adequate IT infrastructure, and by extension a higher chance of a cyber attack. In fact, we saw a horrifying example of this just a few short weeks ago in October.

Tens of millions of unsecured internet cameras and other devices were exploited to take down the websites of several major companies. These devices were infected because their security was not up to date, primarily because nobody considered that these devices would ever draw the gaze of dangerous cyber attackers.

It’s becoming clearer and clearer every day that stealing information from small businesses is much more lucrative than risking an attack on larger, more dangerous targets. SMBs are bearing an unfair portion of the losses stemming from cybercrime. Symantec’s 2016 Internet Security Threat Report divulged that 43 percent of all cyber attacks set their sights on small businesses, averaging around $200,000 per year. More worryingly, 85 percent think they have proper security measures in place to deal with these attacks.

Affordable enterprise security

Regardless of size, how businesses manage data significantly affects the likelihood of a cyberattack being successful. Managed services providers such as Dyrand Systems can handle everything from educating on quick and easy best practices like training staff in appropriate data management, to deploying and configuring complex intrusion prevention systems. By adopting an agile business philosophy, MSPs are able to deliver cutting-edge IT services at SMB prices.

Although cyber attackers may target SMBs because they see them as vulnerable, they are quick to backpedal when they encounter enterprise security solutions. The whole idea was to find an easy target, and with the same vendors guarding your systems as those guarding the likes of Fortune 500 companies, the mere sight of your bulletproof cybersecurity solution may be enough to scare attackers away entirely.

Dyrand Systems has more than 15 years of experience in the IT industry, and more than four times that when combining the experience of our specialists. We’re able to provide the best IT solutions in town because our expertise and constant quest for improvement means you don’t experience downtime, and we have more time to stay ahead of those who aim to create trouble at your business. Enlist us to simplify your technology and to drastically improve its security. Speak with one of our experts today.