03 Oct Protecting Your Small Business Clients from Cyber Attacks
Just because cyberattacks decline for one report cycle doesn’t mean they won’t rise again. Cyber trends ebb and flow, and hackers will persistently seek easy prey – companies of any size with weak cyber defenses. Unless the number of attacks falls to zero, SMBs need to put cybersecurity at the top of their priority list.
Something else SMBs should consider: most data breaches (85%) result from human error or malicious behavior. Data from the Ponemon Institute suggests that seven in ten employees were victims of password theft – most often the result of carelessness on the worker’s part. In another report, incorrect delivery and misconfiguration were also in top spots for human error.
A single insider breach can cost upwards of $7.68 million with direct and indirect costs (including down-time, fines, lawsuits, notifications, identity protection for individuals who were compromised). And the most significant cybersecurity threat lies behind your clients’ own doors, SMBs shouldn’t look to external cyberattack stats as the sole risk barometer.
Phishing is another top threat. Although this method originates from unknown outsiders, the breach is ultimately launched by unwitting employees who open infected emails or links. The same can be said for ransomware attacks.
An organization will suffer damage no matter how a breach occurs – it only takes one to devastate financial and reputational integrity. The big corporations have reserves to buffer an attack: dedicated IT teams, reputation-saving PR sources, sophisticated incident management plans…and big budgets. Not so SMBs.
Here are a few more statistics to drive home breach vulnerabilities:
- 52% of SMBs reported credentials were their most compromised data
- 83% of SMB data breaches were financially motivated
- 22% of SMBs transferred to remote work without a designated threat prevention plan
- 50% of SMB owners admitted that they don’t provide employees with cybersecurity training
- 58% of businesses stated that workers ignore cybersecurity directives
- 42% of IT leaders believed that their static data loss prevention tools won’t detect half of all threat incidents
As an MSP, it’s your job to secure your clients’ networks and protect their data. One of your most formidable weapons to do that is vulnerability scanning. This proactive activity can detect risks before they become incidents. You can use regular vulnerability scanning to differentiate yourself from the competition. Vulnerability scans not only generate recurring revenue, but the problems they uncover can expand your income and your worth to your client.
Click here to get your demo of VulScan and learn more about how it helps you better protect your networks.