{"id":2680,"date":"2018-11-07T13:58:24","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T18:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/?p=2680"},"modified":"2018-11-08T19:35:11","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T00:35:11","slug":"why-data-breach-prevention-matters-for-small-and-midsize-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/why-data-breach-prevention-matters-for-small-and-midsize-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Data Breach Prevention Matters for Small and Midsize Businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"data<\/a>Has your business experienced a data breach yet? It\u2019s no longer a matter of if but when hackers will target your organization. As Verizon\u2019s 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report<\/a> (DBIR) warns, \u201cIt will probably be you one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

All it takes is for one of your team members to click on a malicious email or share a password<\/a> that falls into the wrong hands and ends up for sale on the dark web. Hackers can infiltrate<\/a> their target\u2019s network in mere minutes, but it typically takes much longer for the affected organization to notice. The majority (68 percent) of data breaches aren\u2019t discovered for months or even longer, according to Verizon\u2019s DBIR.<\/p>\n

On top of that, the data breach epidemic that\u2019s developed in recent years is only getting worse. In 2017, the number of data breaches in the U.S. reached a record high of 1,579, a 44.7 percent increase compared to the previous year, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cybercrime is still going strong this year: As of October 3, there were a total of 932 breaches identified by the ITRC<\/a> in the U.S. so far in 2018, exposing a total of approximately 47.2 million records.<\/p>\n

Most of the headlines related to data breaches address large incidents involving big corporations. For instance, it was hard to miss the media storm following the recent Facebook breach<\/a>, which was the largest in the company\u2019s history and affected nearly 50 million users.<\/p>\n

However, larger enterprises aren\u2019t the only ones that need to worry about breaches. Cybercriminals also target small to midsize businesses in their pursuit of sensitive data. If you\u2019re part of the leadership team at a small to medium-sized company, it\u2019s crucial to take action<\/a> to reduce your data breach risk, if you haven\u2019t already. Here\u2019s everything that you should know about why and how to secure your IT environment.<\/p>\n

Why Small Businesses Need to Take Action<\/strong>
\nThe stereotype of hackers setting their sights exclusively on billion-dollar enterprises is misleading, Verizon\u2019s DBIR states.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost attacks are opportunistic and target not the wealthy or famous but the unprepared,\u201d the report explains.<\/p>\n

Our IT security experts at Stratosphere Networks have observed that hackers often go after smaller organizations rather than large ones. The majority (58 percent) of cyberattacks target small businesses, the 2018 DBIR confirms.<\/p>\n

Smaller organizations are less likely to have sophisticated cybersecurity defenses in place, which means they\u2019re generally easier to infiltrate. Only 21 percent of small and medium-sized businesses classify their ability to take on cyber vulnerabilities, risks, and attacks as highly effective, according to the 2017 State of Cybersecurity in Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMB) report<\/a> from the Ponemon Institute.<\/p>\n

Hacking into the IT environment of a large company that has invested in advanced IT security solutions, on the other hand, necessitates crafting a sophisticated plan of attack. As a result, it\u2019s become common for cybercriminals to launch numerous scripted or AI-based attacks against various small businesses instead of putting a large amount of effort into taking down the defenses of one big corporation.<\/p>\n

Because smaller organizations have become attractive targets for cybercriminals, it\u2019s imperative that these businesses take proactive steps to stop malicious entities from infiltrating their networks. Particularly for companies with limited resources, a data breach can prove disastrous. The global average cost of a data breach has reached $3.86 million, according to the 2018 Cost of a Data Breach Study<\/a> from the Ponemon Institute and IBM.<\/p>\n

A data breach can negatively affect your business in the following ways, among others:<\/p>\n