Almost every day, headlines bring us news about the latest data breaches and cyber criminals attacking top financial institutions and major retailers. However, what they don’t say is that small and medium sized businesses are equally at risk. If your business is hacked, do you have a disaster recovery plan in place?
Many of us have the mindset of “it won’t happen to me,” but, according to the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), 20% of small businesses fall victim to cyber criminals every year. That’s a 1-in-5 chance of your company being hacked.
A 2014 study reported the average cost of a cyber attack on a company with less than 100 employees to be just over $1 million. Can your company withstand that type of financial hit? This could be fatal to many small businesses.
While the potential losses due to a cyber attack can be very high, a data disaster should not only be viewed in financial terms, as it can also negatively impact your business’ reputation.
For a retailer, a data breach can result in stolen credit card and customer’s financial information. For service providers and other professionals, this can mean a loss of client’s personal records and confidential company data. Of course, there is also the loss of network services for an unknown amount of time.
Data disasters such as these may ultimately result in the loss of untold numbers of present and potential customers and destroy the trust and reputation that took years for your brand to accumulate.
The good news is a comprehensive IT security plan can keep those cyber wolves out of your door. A proactive plan will provide regular data backups, education for employees about network and data security, the latest anti-virus and malware protection across all of your company’s devices, and be there to provide emergency service in the event a disaster should occur.