Being a small business owner, you take some comfort in believing that cyber hackers are uninterested in your small company's data. It would be great if this were true, if cybercriminals left the little guy alone. But the truth of it is, it's the little guy that's the easiest to knock over.
Large corporations have cybersecurity measures in place that keep cyber thugs out of their data. According to CSO, the average company with a 1,000 employee or more staff spends $15 million annually in an effort to fight cybercrime.
Unless you have $15 million stashed under your SMB's floorboards, a cybercriminal will come after your small business if only because your cybersecurity is easier to crack.
It doesn't matter how much or how little your business is worth, it doesn't matter if the data you're storing is about a shipment from six months ago; if a cybercriminal believes they can make some money by stealing your data and disabling your network, they'll do it.
As a small business owner, you will need a cybersecurity insurance policy to protect you in the event of a data breach.
Thinking that a cyberattack will never happen to you is unfortunately only proffering false hope.
For these three small business owners, a data breach cost them their dream: running a business.
PATCO Construction
Specialization: Construction
Located out of Maine, PATCO Construction lost half a million dollars in a Trojan cyberattack. A Trojan cyberattack is a popular method cybercriminals use to get into an individual's or business' computer server. The Trojan often looks and acts like a program the user is familiar with, thus they thinking nothing about clicking on the infected program and installing it. Once the Trojan is downloaded and installed, cyber thieves can use the bot to steal information. In PATCO Construction's case, the hackers stole the company's banking information. It was a week before the company learned of the attack, and because they didn't have cybersecurity methods in place, they weren't able to get back all of the money that was stolen.
Volunteer Voyages
Specialization: Providing humanitarian volunteer opportunities to travelers
The owner of Volunteer Voyages lost $14k because a cyber crook was able to make off with his credit card number. The owner had notified their bank that they would be traveling for work in an effort to help the bank better catch any mysterious purchases that could show up on the account should the card be compromised. Despite having notified the bank, Volunteer Voyages was not reimbursed for the loss. Banks will not reimburse small business owners for cyberattacks resulting in stolen monies; a cyber insurance policy will.
Wright Hotels
Specialization: Real estate investment and development firm
Phishing scams are some of the oldest and most common cyberattacks methods used by cybercriminals to date. After an employee for Wright Hotels responded to a phishing email, the cyber thief who sent the email was able to steal over $1 million from the real estate and development firm by acting as the CEO and convincing other members of the staff to wire money. Again, the small business' bank did nothing to help with the stolen funds.
The one true thing that can help your business in the event of a cyberattack is a cybersecurity insurance policy. Visit CyberPolicy today to sign up for your plan.
