How SMBs Are Handling Their Cyber Security Needs

Contrary to popular belief, small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) are becoming a top target for cyber-criminals in 2019. According to the Underserved and Unprepared: The State of SMB Cyber Security in 2019 report by Continuum Managed Services, 45 percent of SMBs surveyed said that cyber security is a top priority for them, and 52 percent said it will be among the top priorities in the next two years. Take a look at what else this report found about how SMBs are handling their cyber security needs.

Attacks Are Costly to an Organization’s Finances and Reputation

The average business cost of attacks for SMB survey respondents was $53,987. Money, time, and data loss were listed as the top three areas of impact for SMBs who experienced cyber-attacks.

Considering that most SMBs have suffered a cyber-attack of some kind in the last year, these costs are important to think about. In particular, 64 percent said they’ve experienced a cyber-attack throughout their career, and about one third said they’ve had an attack in the last 12 months. This explains why 80 percent of SMBs said they are concerned they will be targeted by cybercriminals in the next six months.

More SMBs Take Cyber Security Training More Seriously

About 75 percent of SMBs reported that there should be more focus on cyber security, and 89 percent said they see cyber security as being in the top five priorities for their company.

Additionally, 79 percent of respondents are planning to spend more on cyber security training in the next year. Currently, 62 percent of SMBs feel they lack the skills to deal with security threats on their own, and 52 percent feel completely helpless to deal with newer types of attacks.

Areas of Focus for SMBs Concerned About Cyber Security

When it comes to specific concerns, about 50 percent are most concerned about data loss, while 43 percent are worried about customer loss and 39 percent worry about a damaged reputation. The report also showed that 82 percent of SMBs worry about customer data being stolen, and 77 percent worry about someone stealing private data to use outside of the company.

In addition, 77 percent of SMBs are worried about IT downtime after an attack, and 76 percent are concerned about the possibility of customer-facing apps being attacked. So, it’s no surprise that most SMBs want to work harder to protect important features like their company’s finances, customer data, employee data, and customer-facing applications.

SMBs Are Outsourcing Security Training to Managed Service Providers

As cyber security becomes more of a priority for leadership, SMBs are now looking to outsource training to managed service providers, or MSPs. Of the SMBs surveyed, 81 percent already use an MSP, with 45 percent attesting that their MSP takes care of all or most of their IT services.

Of the companies that use an MSP, 47 percent said they feel they are well protected against any customer data breaches, and 46 percent feel protected against internal data breaches.

Using an MSP for security awareness training saves organizations time and effort while providing them with the timely resources they need to maintain an office culture of security awareness.

The original version of this article was first published on Inspired eLearning.