Statistics show that cybersecurity is a legitimate threat to small businesses, but owners don’t always act on that knowledge. According to PurpleSec statistics, cybercrime has risen by 600% during the COVID-19 pandemic, and cyberattacks are predicted to double by 2025. This is clearly a serious issue, yet a survey by the Cyber Readiness Institute has suggested 60% of businesses have no policy in this area.
It’s not fair to conclude that small businesses don’t care about cybersecurity, but they do seem willing to ignore concerns. Despite alarming statistics and articles peppering the internet, many smaller firms consistently underplay the risk of cyberattacks.
Logically, this makes sense. While cybersecurity threats can be as bad as physical ones, online threats aren’t always obvious. Bad password protection and poor site maintenance may leave your business vulnerable to attack, but there isn’t the same tangible threat as leaving a store unlocked or allowing a stranger to walk around your offices unsupervised.
Unfortunately for small businesses, this “out of sight, out of mind” mentality can have consequences. If you fail to protect your business from cybersecurity threats, you may lose critical company information while also damaging your brand and losing money. Cyberattacks can be so severe that companies simply can’t cover the cost; IBM calculated that the average cost of a data breach was $4.24 million in 2021.
Why your small business needs cybersecurity
“Small business owners cannot think their business is too small to be hacked,” said Monique Becenti, product marketing manager at Zimperium. “While the breaches that make headlines tend to be associated with large enterprises, no business is immune to cyberthreats.”
If in doubt, ask.
One of the big reasons small firms avoid putting resources toward cybersecurity is a lack of understanding and concern. Even the term “cybersecurity” can be intimidating, yet there are plenty of experts ready to offer advice in layman’s terms. If the reason your business avoids taking cybersecurity measures is a lack of knowledge, there are experts out there willing to visit your business, either for training or to share options for cybersecurity plans. Ignoring cybersecurity because your team lacks technical knowledge isn’t a legitimate excuse.
If you are strapped for time or have a team of remote workers, you can take online cybersecurity classes to better train everyone, and to understand where your business lacks online protection. Here are a few of the top free online cybersecurity classes.
- SANS Cyber Aces Online: This is great for beginners because much of this content is as basic as it gets. If your team is generally ignorant when it comes to cybersecurity, consider taking advantage of this free course.
- Cybrary: Free access to Cybrary includes hundreds of courses related to cybersecurity and IT. The courses are sorted by difficulty, helping to determine which are best suited to you.
- Foundations of Cybersecurity:Springboard’s free course includes a whopping 37-plus hours’ worth of materials. You don’t need to watch all of it to gain a better understanding of cybersecurity best practices, but one hour of viewing per week would provide tremendous insights.
By Bennett Conlin
