Risk & Business Magazine Branch Benefits Consultants Fall 2016 | Page 28

CYBER SECURITY

Cyber
Security
FOR SMALL BUSINESSESS

H

BY: KRISTY ROBERTS,
BRANCH BENEFITS
CONSULTANTS

igh-profile cyber attacks
on companies such as
Target and Sears have
raised awareness of the
growing threat of cyber
crime. Recent surveys conducted by the
Small Business Authority, Symantec,
Kaspersky Lab and the National
Cybersecurity Alliance suggest that many
small business owners are still operating
under a false sense of cyber security.

exactly what a disgruntled or recently fired
employee needs to execute an attack on
the business.

The statistics of these studies are grim;
the vast majority of U.S. small businesses
lack a formal Internet security policy for
employees, and only about half have even
rudimentary cybersecurity measures in
place. Furthermore, only about a quarter
of small business owners have had an
outside party test their computer systems
to ensure they are hacker proof, and
nearly 40 percent do not have their data
backed up in more than one location.

According to the Kaspersky Lab, the
average annual cost of cyber attacks
to small and medium-sized businesses
was over $200,000 in 2014. Most small
businesses don’t have that kind of money
lying around, and as a result, nearly 60
percent of the small businesses victimized
by a cyber attack close permanently within
six months of the attack. Many of these
businesses put off making necessary
improvements to their cyber security
protocols until it was too late because they
feared the costs would be prohibitive.

DON’T EQUATE SMALL WITH SAFE
Despite significant cybersecurity
exposures, 85 percent of small business
owners believe their company is safe
from hackers, viruses, malware or a
data breach. This disconnect is largely
due to the widespread, albeit mistaken,
belief that small businesses are unlikely
targets for cyber attacks. In reality, data
thieves are simply looking for the path of
least resistance