Back in the last decade of the 20^th century, an entrepreneur in Orlando proudly, publicly stated that his business was too small to be a target. Granted, he wasn’t talking about cyber threats, but he was talking about other threats to the security of his business.

He was wrong. Within a matter of months after he boldly blurted out what he believed to be true, his company was the target of litigious attack from a German-based company with over 300,000 employees and annual revenue in excess of $80 billion.

Lesson learned: The size of your business does not exempt it from attack.

This applies, in particular, today when it comes to small businesses and cyber threats. As a recent article in CIO magazine put it, “Believing that their security program is good enough means there’s a good chance they’ll be breached.” The article was addressing small business owners.

Think You Are Immune from Cyber Threats?

Think again. The CIO article described the lack of small business ownership with cyber security issues was akin to them being in a time warp compared to Fortune 100 enterprises. In fact, small business owners should consider these documented facts.

• “95 percent of IT professionals at small businesses believe their cyber security posture is above average. However, 100 percent of the same respondents also said they could improve their ”
• Small businesses are the victims of a whopping 4,000 cyber attacks per day.
  • That’s more than 120,000 per month.
  • That’s nearly 1.5 million attacks per year.
• 75 percent of all U.S. companies have experienced some form of cybersecurity breach in the 12 months from April 2016 to March 2017.
• SMBs are the target of 62 percent of all cyber-attacks.
• “60 percent of small businesses are unable to sustain their businesses” for more than six months following an attack.

If you think that last statistic is because those businesses aren’t as well operated as yours, this statistic should put it in a more worrisome perspective. The average cost of a single data breach is $225 per record lost or stolen. For small businesses, the average price of recovery from a cyber-attack is $690,000. (Fast Math: ≈ 3,000 records x $225/record)

Our objective is not to scare you. It is to warn you. When it comes to being the target of a cyber threat, size doesn’t seem to matter.

Guarding your technology does not have to involve elaborate evasive tactics. It just takes an awareness of potential dangers and taking a few, common-sense steps to ensure the safety of your data and devices.

Tech Sentries is as concerned about your computer system security as you are. Your computer system security is our business. That’s why Tech Sentries is always on duty. Contact us today to learn how we can help you “GUARD YOUR TECHNOLOGY” (843-282-2222).