What is a cyber crisis & how can a small business stay prepared?

Ransomware attacks against small businesses are running rampant. Nearly half (43%) of all cyber attacks now target organizations with 250 employees or fewer. Reports also suggest there’s a one-in-two chance your small business will be hit with some form of cyberattack in the next 12 months. In fact, one in five small businesses have already been hit with ransomware.

What is a cyber crisis?

A cyber crisis is when a cybercriminal places ransomware on your website or files and holds your information and data until you pay a ransom. When ransomware hits, the average small business experiences two full days of downtime. They pay anywhere from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars to get their data back. One-third of them lose actual revenue, and all of them experience brand and loyalty damage that’s much harder to quantify and recover from.

Unfortunately, while most small businesses end up paying the ransom, that doesn’t guarantee anything. Plenty of businesses have fully complied with the ransom demands, only to have the hacker increase the ransom request—or simply take off with the ransom and your data. It’s no wonder, then, that 41% of surveyed small business customers find that ransomware, phishing attacks, and other viruses are the top threat to their business data.

Why does my small business need a cybersecurity and disaster recovery plan?

One click can unlock the doors to your business data

Cyberattacks increasingly target small businesses. Cybercriminals know smaller organizations have fewer resources to dedicate to data security, making them an easier target. Compromising just one user often grants the hacker the “keys to the castle.”

With a seemingly harmless click on a link or email attachment, ransomware quickly and silently installs on a victim’s device and mounts an extortion attack, demanding a ransom in return for access to their data. And if that user is connected to a cloud collaboration tool, such as Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox, the virus can spread to the rest of the organization in minutes. Now the whole company is in trouble.

What do I need to start cyber recovery planning for my small business?

Don’t wait for a disaster to happen – start a cyberattack or disaster recovery plan

Many small businesses may not see the importance of a disaster recovery plan until it’s too late. Their data gets compromised, their customers are now vulnerable, and money goes down the drain – next thing you know, their doors may be closing.

Protect your business and its critical data by starting a disaster recovery plan that:

• Has a clear owner
• Involves many partners from across the business
• Is simple to execute
• Leverages a comprehensive, multilayered approach
• Is regularly practiced and continuously updated