The Cost of Cybercrime

I was recently reading the Herjavec Groups 2017 Cybercrime report, and a couple of facts jumped out at me.  By 2021 Cybercrime “will be more profitable than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined”.  They go on to mention that they expect the costs to be 6 Trillion by that time and that nearly half of all cyber attacks will be against small businesses.

If you are a small business owner, this can be extremely daunting, and you almost want to shun technology altogether.  Obviously, you can’t do that, because technology is the lifeblood of most businesses now.  The key is to secure your most important data.  Many businesses treat all data the same, but this shouldn’t be the case.  Your clients’ credit card numbers are obviously more important than the holiday party information.  As a business, you should secure that data differently because it is different.  If you get hacked and the company puts out a press release saying the criminals got your clients credit card information, many people will be frustrated or angry. If you put out a press release saying hackers stole your credit card database, but the information was encrypted and unreadable, well that is a much better story. You can then talk about how you protect your client’s data.

I recently read that cybersecurity professionals get a call on average twice a week by headhunters trying to lure them to other jobs.  This is another reason small businesses have a difficulty securing their infrastructure.  As a small business, you should seriously consider using an MSSP (Managed Security Services Provider).  Thrive is one of these, as are some other organizations.  While I obviously think Thrive is one of the best in the industry, if you go with a reputable one, you get 24/7 support at a fraction of the cost and the headaches of managing the security internally.  You will have a team of security professionals to call upon, which as a small business you would have a hard time retaining.

With the increased emphasis on cybercrime, and the limited resources that many businesses have, this problem will be challenging, but not impossible to overcome.  Taking some prudent steps of securing and monitoring your most important data will go a long way in protecting your business. Contact Thrive today discuss more.