If your business experienced a cyberattack, would the attacker succeed? If so, how quickly would your business be able to recover? In reality, many don’t recover at all. According to data from the National Cyber Security Alliance, 60% of small businesses closed 6 months after falling victim to a cyberattack. 

For those that do manage to make it, things are rarely any easier. Norton Security estimates that the average cost of a data breach is now $3.86 million. Cybercrime has grown into an industry that now makes over $1.5 trillion per year. The number of attacks is increasing drastically and many businesses don’t know what they can do to protect themselves.

You may think that your business is too small to be a target, but this is never the case. To help you protect your business from this growing threat, let’s take a look at what you need to know about cybersecurity. 

Threats you Should be Aware Of

Thanks to advances in cybersecurity technology, such as machine learning threat detection and artificial intelligence, cybercriminals are using more sophisticated methods to stay ahead. For instance, they’re using mobile and IoT devices to form botnets or launch DDoS attacks – a method that increased 600% in 2017 alone. 

According to Microsoft, cloud-based attacks grew by 300%. The main victims were businesses that repurposed outdated, on-premises security tools instead of investing in modern solutions designed specifically for the cloud. 

In 2017 alone, phishing grew by 65% and has continued to pose a threat to small businesses with employees that haven’t been educated on identifying phishing attempts. Ransomware is as serious as ever, with The Barkley Team predicting it to cost businesses a total of $11.5 billion a year by the end of 2019. 

Chances of Your Business Being Attacked

The statistics may be frightening, but they don’t apply equally to every business. The chances of your company being attacked are largely dependent on security and infrastructure. If your business collects valuable data and engages in high-risk behavior, it will naturally be a bigger target.

Ultimately, your chances are high no matter what type of business you run. This makes it important to not only implement the appropriate measures to protect your business, but also to bring it back into operating order in the event of a cyberattack. Every hour you lose to downtime correlates to thousands of dollars down the drain. 

What You Can Do

Ensure that you’re aware of the small business data recovery solutions available through companies such as Secure Data Recovery. This will help you prevent serious data loss and get your business back up and running in the event of a cyberattack, human error, hardware failure or even natural disaster. 

Of course, keeping your software up to date, using business-grade antivirus and anti-malware applications and educating your employees on cybersecurity is just as important now as it’s ever been. 

Conclusion

The unfortunate reality is that cybercrime is set to only increase in the coming years. That said, doing what you can to protect your business is a worthwhile endeavor that will save you from immeasurable losses.