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People live in a different world this 2023. After the global pandemic, people’s lives have significantly changed. Some may have it better; some have it worse. And most importantly, the way businesses operate has changed vastly as well.
With the pandemic, work-from-home setups have become common. Businesses can also now do their transactions online. And unfortunately, cyberattacks against these small businesses have become too familiar.
If you own a business and understand how freakishly scary it is to become a victim of cyberattacks, you may want to prioritize your cybersecurity. And if you’re skeptical and need help understanding why you should do that, be sure to continue reading.
Prevent Becoming A Victim
Cybercriminals have attacked almost 50% of small businesses in the United States. Around seven out of ten victims have been attacked more than twice. The last thing that you want to happen is for you to become a part of those statistics, so prioritize improving your cybersecurity measures.
2023 can be a scary year for small businesses. You should be aware that it’s estimated that cybercrimes are predicted to become prominent continually. In 2025, it’s expected that cybercrimes will incur financial damage that may amount to more than USD$10 trillion. Also, to medium- to large-sized enterprises, a single data breach can cost a business around USD$3.86 million. Do you have that kind of money to spare?
Even if your business is in the Australian technology market, the massive damage a cyberattack can bring to your doorsteps won’t spare you.
Keep Your Business
The numbers don’t lie. A simple data breach or cybercrime can deal a fatal blow to your business. A small business that’s been attacked often is at high risk of going out of business. You wouldn’t want that to happen in your company, would you?
Make Your Employees Knowledgeable And Aware
One out of two Americans has no idea what to do when they become a cyberattack victim. To be honest, most of them don’t even know that they’ve been attacked already. Note that employees are often exploited as a cybersecurity vulnerability, so protect them, as cybersecurity training them and making them knowledgeable will protect your small business in turn as well.
Also, you should know that a third of attacks used employees as a vulnerability. Another third of the attacks have been done by internal actors or people within the company who intend to commit a crime.
Minimize Damage Through Insurance
Unfortunately, half of the small businesses in the United States have insurance regarding a cyberattack. Many don’t even know if their insurer covers attacks, damage of this nature, or other cybersecurity concerns. So, as early as now, prioritize cybersecurity and making your insured against attacks related to this type of crime.
Remember, more than 85% of cyberattacks are motivated by financial reasons. You wouldn’t want your company to be financially burdened just because you didn’t prioritize cybersecurity.
Safely Enable Work From Home Setup
As you may already know, providing employees with the opportunity to work from home (WFH) benefits employers and employees. WFH effectively boosts an employee’s morale, and this setup makes them feel trusted. Meanwhile, businesses can save a lot of expenses because of the reduced costs associated with giving employees a workplace.
However, WFH can’t be pulled off willy-nilly because doing so means opening up your small business to cyberattack vulnerabilities. So, if you want to relish the WFH setup for your people, you may want to prioritize your cybersecurity strategies and efforts.
Improve Reputation And Customer Trust
Nowadays, most businesses are trying to shift their operations online. Customers who want to transact with small businesses can use their phones and the web. However, once you put your business entirely online, you will need to know that you’ll face new challenges: cybersecurity threats.
Of course, your business isn’t the only one at risk when you allow your business to operate on the World Wide Web. Transacting online is also a considerable risk for your customers. Just imagine, if your database contains all your customer’s information, who do you think will be blamed? Yes, that’s right; it’s you.
To make it easy for you to bring your business online and protect your reputation and brand, you should ensure that your cybersecurity measures are effective.
Conclusion
Those are the reasons why you should prioritize your cybersecurity. Thankfully, there are a lot of other resources out there on the web. You can spend more time analyzing your next move to strengthen your cybersecurity measures.