Cybersecurity Awareness Month is over, but your concern regarding cyber attackers should continue. As a small business owner, you’re likely worried about everything from payroll to board meetings, but cybersecurity should always stay up. Hackers are sharpening their skills more and more as the years go on. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime report, the cost of cybercrimes reached $2.7 billion in 2020, and 47% of small businesses experienced a cyberattack of some kind in the past year. Why are hackers targeting small businesses? Hackers realize that small businesses may have a different security infrastructure than larger ones. As a result, breaking past a weaker network and stealing data that can earn them serious cash down the road is much easier. Small companies also usually have information worth more money on the dark web, like personal data, financial information, and even personal health information.
What effects could a cyber attack have on your small business?
In the unfortunate event that a hacker breaches your security network and accesses your clients’ data, your business can be held liable for the costs of recovering data and face potential fines by various entities in the industry. It would help if you also considered the cost of repairing or replacing equipment that was infected or attacked and any loss of income while dealing with a network attack. Imagine a small retail site offering products for sale online during the upcoming holiday sale season. A cyber attacker can take down a site in minutes, meaning the loss of hours of potential sales. That small business will suffer financial implications, but it could also suffer from bad PR. If customers lose trust in online sales, a small business could risk losing business altogether.
How can SOGO Insurance help my business with cybersecurity?
SOGO Insurance can start by providing a cyber risk assessment to your small business. Penetration testing is a standard and helpful tool to find out just how easy it would be for a hacker to attack your company’s site, poking holes in your security plan to offer solutions before you get hacked. We can also help you create a cybersecurity incident response plan for an unfortunate attack. There are specific ways to handle these crises, and you would want to avoid putting your small business in even more jeopardy by handling an attack the wrong way. Finally, of course, we also encourage the training of your employees on standard hacking techniques and ways to prevent them. With hackers becoming increasingly clever, we recommend training at least annually, but likely more often due to regularly changing tactics.
Contact us today for more information on our cybersecurity insurance plans that help protect your business from cyber attackers.
In case you missed it: Check out “Reflections During Breast Cancer Awareness Month” to reflect and ensure your employees feel safe and taken care of at work.
