A quarter of small businesses struck in past 12 months
A recent study from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) revealed that a quarter of small businesses in the U.S. and Canada dealt with at least one cyber attack in the past year.
The BBB gathered responses from more than 1,500 businesses in the U.S. and Canada to take an in-depth look at the state of cybersecurity in the small business community. According to [link url=”http://www.bbb.org/stateofcybersecurity” title=”the study”], one of four businesses fended off a cyber attack in the previous 12 months.
Certain industries fought off more cyber attacks than others. Those with a higher likelihood of being hit included: manufacturing, real estate and leasing, retail, insurance, and construction. The BBB noted an average monetary loss of $4,387 from cyber attacks referenced in the study. The maximum loss reached $150,000.
Smallest businesses less likely to be impacted
According to the BBB, the smaller the business, the lower the incidence of cybercrime.
About 34 percent of businesses that reported at least one cyber attack as part of the survey fell into the category of small business with 25 or more employees. In the category of businesses with 10 or fewer employees, the percentage fell to 25 percent (with a least one cyber attack).
SMBs: take a look at @bbb_us' #cybersecurity for tools & tips to keep your business safer #online: https://t.co/a6ET4ZGimo #CyberAware
— NatlCyberSecAlliance (@StaySafeOnline) October 10, 2016
Five-step approach
The BBB maintains a set of online resources to help small businesses bolster security against cyber attacks. Among these resources is their [link url=”http://www.bbb.org/council/for-businesses/cybersecurity/the-5-step-approach/” title=”five-step approach”] to cybersecurity.
The approach focuses not only on the technology aspect, but also on the all-important understanding and managing of risks. The five steps: 1) Identify; 2) Protect; 3) Detect; 4) Respond; 5) Recover. The BBB largely bases its approach on the [link url=”https://www.nist.gov/cyberframework” title=”Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity”] of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Comments are closed.