Costs of cyberbreaches for SMBs keep going up

According to a study by Kaspersky Lab and B2B International, every cyber-incident is costly to businesses: In 2015, losses due to cyberattacks for SMBs averaged $38K.

That sum, researchers say, includes the cost of calling in specialists to clean up the after-effects, as well as missed business opportunities and losses caused by downtime – the costs keep growing.

The study found that in the last year, almost a third of small and medium businesses suffered downtime and missed business opportunities, and 88% of them had to turn to third-party experts for help. On average, the latter accounted for about $11,000 of a company’s expenses. Lost profits accounted for $16,000, while reputation losses – the damage to a company’s image – was estimated at more than $8,000, according to the respondents.

More than a third (39%) of companies confirmed they have lost confidential data as a result of a cyberattack, which is always a costly problem.

Costs of cyberbreaches for SMBs keep going up #smb #protectmybiz

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At the same time, the study found, about 90% of organizations faced any kind of external threats at least once over the year, and 73% of respondents encountered certain internal threats, such as software vulnerabilities, or the risk of employees losing mobile devices or causing data leaks.

Priorities

Most successful cyberattacks occur not because criminals are ultra-smart geniuses; in fact, they are mostly not. They just know where to acquire their off-the-shelf cyber-lockpick. All they have to do next is to find a place to use it – i.e. find a weak spot. And searching for them is, in most cases,  indiscreet and indiscriminate: spammed-out phishing letters, malware, infected popular websites, etc. Criminals set traps and wait.

Everyone can do so, but those who don’t take precautions are much more likely to fall (I’m kind of playing Captain Obvious here). Meanwhile, for many startups and small companies it is normal to think of anything but cybersecurity – both at the early stages and until a cyber-incident happens.

Figure: in 2015 losses due to cyberattacks for SMBs averaged at $38k #protectmybiz

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Market penetration, financial stability, business contacts, etc. – these are the main priorities for small business owners, while setting a secure digital framework for their operations is often not.

If a company operates with cash, a strongbox would certainly be purchased; while its digital counterpart is often neglected for various reason, but most likely they’re financial. Saving on business security solutions may lead to huge expenses, exceeding manifold the costs of a security software suite.

Kaspersky Lab offers Kaspersky Small Office Security specifically designed for smaller business segment. For medium-sized companies there is Kaspersky Endpoint Security. Both solutions are designed to provide reliable multi-level protection to all elements of the IT infrastructure. Easy to deploy and manage, they protect against cybercriminals while the company focuses on its key business goals. Without risk of falling in a trap set by criminally minded cyber-mediocrities.