Are you a target for cybercrime?
Spoiler alert: Yes, you are.
Regardless of what your business does, what industry it operates in, or what size it is – you ARE a target for cybercrime.
Let’s look at the statistics.
- 43% of all data breaches involve small and medium-sized businesses (Verizon, 2022)
- 61% of all SMBs have reported at least one cyber-attack during the previous year (Verizon, 2022)
- 43% of SMBs have no cybersecurity defense plan in place, leaving their financial, customer and business data at risk (BullGuard, 2020)
- $2.98M is the average cost of a data breach for SMBs with fewer than 500 employees (Ponemon Institute, 2021)
- While any business with a computer system is at risk, the most targeted industries are in finance and insurance, manufacturing, professional services, and healthcare (IBM, 2021)
Summary: SMBs are absolutely at risk for cybercrime.
Let’s put the size of this problem in perspective: If cybercrime was measured as a country, it would be the world’s third-largest economy behind the US and China. (Cybersecurity Ventures, 2022)
Bringing awareness to the cybercrime issue is the first step towards solving it, because the problem is only getting worse.
- Cybersecurity Ventures predicts cybercrime will grow 15% per year, reaching $10.5 trillion annually by 2025
- It is estimated that ransomware attacks will increase in frequency, from every 11 seconds in 2021 to every 2 seconds by 2031 (Cybersecurity Ventures, 2022)
- In a recent survey of 500 CEOs, 18% said cybersecurity risk is the largest threat to their organization’s growth through 2024, up from 10% in 2020 (KPMG, 2021)
On the positive side, there is a growing awareness of cybersecurity risk.
- Global spending on security awareness training for employees will reach $10 billion by 2027 (Cybersecurity Ventures, 2022)
- Gartner predicts that 40% of company boards will have a dedicated cybersecurity committee by 2025 (Gartner, 2021) and that by 2024, 75% of CEOs will be personally liable for cybersecurity incidents (Gartner, 2020)
These statistics are probably low because cybercrime is typically undercounted; most are never reported due to organizational embarrassment, fear of brand damage, and the belief that law enforcement can’t do anything to help. Some experts estimate as few as 10% of cybercrimes are reported. (Cybersecurity Ventures, 2022)
As more and more SMBs evolve digitally, cybersecurity becomes more important. On average, 72% of any organizations’ customer interactions are digital (MuleSoft, 2022) and that means the likelihood of being a target for cybercriminals increases. It doesn’t matter if your organization has, uses, or creates data – just being a business that a cybercriminal can target is enough to put you at risk.
Another significant area of cyber risk are your third-party relationships. More and more organizations are being asked by their partners to prove cybersecurity systems are in place before filling out RFPs or RFQs or engaging in business with them. Marketing agencies, accounting and payroll firms, payment processors, and software platforms are being told to become cyber secure or risk losing business.
Cyber threats are increasing every day and organizations of all sizes and in all industries are at risk of ransomware attacks, malware infections, insider threats, and data breaches.
Your organization has 2 options: 1) be proactive and protect yourself before it happens, or, 2) be reactive and remediate the damage when it happens.
Are you confident in your current cyber risk strategy and execution?
If you’d like to have a confidential conversation with one of our cybersecurity experts to improve your security posture, we’re here to help.
About Fortress:
Fortress Security Risk Management protects companies from the financial, operational, and emotional ravages of cybercrime by enhancing the performance of their people, processes, and technology.
Offering a robust co-managed solution to enhance an internal IT team’s capability and capacity, Fortress features a full suite of managed security services (SOC, patching, EDR, backups) plus specialized services like Cybersecurity-as-a-Service, Incident Response including disaster recovery & remediation, M&A cyber due diligence, GRC advisory, identity & access management, threat management, vulnerability assessments, and technical testing. With headquarters in Cleveland, Fortress supports companies with both domestic and international operations.
In Case of Emergency:
Cyber Attack Hotline: 888-207-0123 | Report an Attack: IR911.com
For Preventative and Emergency Resources, please visit:
RansomwareClock.org