Cybersecurity is a big challenge for your small and medium business (SMB). You have the same needs as a business of any size– defending your network, protecting your data and meeting compliance needs. But the challenges you share with larger firms are more amplified:
- The shortage of cybersecurity professionals, particularly chief information security officers (CISOs), makes it harder for small companies to compete for in-house security talent.
- Fewer resources in general – budget, personnel, etc. – to devote to cybersecurity has led to SMBs becoming the primary targets of cybercrime, with 41 percent of small businesses suffering a successful cyberattack in 2023.
- 78% of SMBs are concerned a cyberattack could put their organizations out of business
If your business has stepped up investments in cybersecurity, you’re in good company. Combined IT security spending for global SMBs and midmarket companies is projected to reach $90 billion in 2024.
Do you know how your strategy stacks up to market dynamics? Let’s review some action items you can take based on expert cybersecurity advice.
Why are SMBs at risk from cyberattacks?
SMBs are vulnerable to both cyberattacks and their effects for many reasons:
- Greater exposure to insider threats
- Limited cybersecurity resources
- Lower organizational security awareness
- Inadequate backup and recovery plans
- Outdated technology
- Third-Party vendor risks
- Lack of dedicated IT staff, especially security
- No buy-in from a “cybersecurity c-suite”
- Supply chain vulnerabilities
- IoT security risks from connected devices
Common types of cyberattacks
Cybercriminals take advantage of SMBs across multiple attack vectors. The most common exploits take advantage of typical weaknesses in small business security.
1. Malware
The broad category of malware includes trojans, viruses and worms that execute unauthorized actions on the victim’s system. Malware is often deployed through ransomware, phishing, or other malicious tactics.
2. Ransomware
A ransomware attack holds a company’s important information for ransom, such as passwords, credit card information, files, and databases. Small business ransomware attacks occur every 40 seconds, on average.
3. Phishing
Cybercriminals use phishing attacks to steal personal information like credit card details, bank info, social security numbers and passwords. These attacks often come through emails or text messages that appear trustworthy, leading victims to click on malicious links or unintentionally reveal sensitive information.
4. Password hacking
Many people use weak passwords or reuse the same password across multiple accounts, making it easier for hackers to gain unauthorized access to other applications and systems after one set of login credentials is breached or exposed.
5. Social engineering
Social engineering exploits human psychology to gain access to sensitive information. Phishing attacks fall within the larger umbrella of social engineering attacks when they involve impersonating persons known to the victim. According to 2021 data from Barracuda, employees of small businesses experience 350% more social engineering attacks than those at larger enterprises.
6. Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks
Man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks involve attackers intercepting communication between two parties to steal data or impersonate one of them in another form of attack (e.g., social engineering).
7. Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks
Denial-of-service attacks overwhelm a system’s resources, making it unavailable to legitimate users.
8. Email attacks
Small businesses receive the highest ratio of targeted malicious emails in the business world (estimated at one in very 323 messages).
What SMBs can do to improve security
The good news is that cybersecurity is achievable even when your small business resources are limited. Here’s a rundown on good, better and best practices for reducing your exposure and perhaps making it a little easier to sleep at night.
Good practices for SMB Cybersecurity: Strong locks in key places
It’s better to have a few good locks in key places than no locks at all. What we mean by this is that, if you’re limited in your ability to focus on cybersecurity, it’s better to allocate the resources you have toward a handful of strong measures in key areas than to write off cybersecurity as unattainable.
If your IT team is spread thin in terms of workload, budget or skillset, it may make sense to identify the greatest risks or priorities and focus on them. (Your selection may be dictated by regulatory compliance requirements). By identifying these areas, your team can prioritize cybersecurity service procurement projects to shore up some of your greatest vulnerabilities.
Some cybersecurity measures often taken by SMBs rely on evasion rather than true protection. This is not unlike hiding your keys under a fake rock instead of investing in a lock box. Unfortunately, this is a tactic with which criminals are very familiar. If thieves target your home, they’ll almost certainly locate the key under a suspiciously plastic-looking rock in your garden. The bottom line is that hoping for the best while you have no cybersecurity defenses is not a plan.
Instead of opting for “security by obscurity,” a term used by cybersecurity expert and recent UPSTACK podcast guest Ariel Pisetzky describing the digital version of the plastic rock approach, be sure to lock down your valuable data. It’s not about hiding gaps in your posture or trying to elude hackers with limited visibility, but rather locking down the keys (e.g., passwords, human vulnerabilities, etc.) with impenetrable solutions. Locate the most vulnerable areas of your organization and select solutions that specifically address concerns related to those areas.
Better practices for SMB Cybersecurity: Weak locks everywhere
Speaking of home invasions, here’s another analogy: Experts say padlocks, bike locks and deadbolts in your home, are meant to stave off casual criminals looking for the easiest opportunity. They are looking for unlocked doors, not trying to pick locks. The same goes for the cybercrime world. Though it may sound counterintuitive, what’s better than a handful of good locks in a few areas? The answer is: weak locks everywhere. Making a best effort in more areas is a step up from diving deep into protecting any singular (or few) area of your network. That’s because the sheer surface area of the threat vectors is your greatest risk, and most attacks that SMBs will face are focused on simple, low-hanging, unsecured vulnerabilities.
One of your best defenses against cybercriminals is to make it harder–or at least, more frustrating–for bad actors to infiltrate your system. Just a little friction may be enough. A hacker would rather slip in through an unprotected gap in a business’ security posture than chip away at your protective measures. (This also is an advantage SMBs have over more desirable enterprise targets.) Of course, we’re speaking in generalities, but playing the odds may be the best you can do.
This can mean taking regular cyberhygiene measures, like regular password changes, phishing education, immutable backups (wherein your backup is incorruptible) and regular software and device updates. It can also mean investing in a blanket, baseline solution like firewalls and antivirus software that covers your full network, as well as incident detection.
Incident detection is especially valuable. The longer it takes for you to become aware of a breach, the longer a hacker has to move around in your network and achieve their goals. The sooner you detect an intrusion, the better. Small business network security and IT security solutions can both reduce your chances of suffering a breach and deccrease the time to remediation if you experience one.
Best practices for SMB Cybersecurity: A virtual CISO
The first two approaches we’ve covered are tactical. Strategy makes a cybersecurity architecture cohesive. Without an expert helping guide decisions and providing a roadmap for cohesive, layered protection, you may be not get the full benefit of your defensive measures.
The investment you should make is in the expert who can put them all together seamlessly: a virtual CISO, or vCISO.
A vCISO works on a contract or subscription basis, lending you their time, talent and expertise at a rate you can afford. vCISOs offer services from monitoring and incident response to proactive planning and strategy. You may even find a vCISO willing to provide mentorship and training to your employees, helping impart knowledge with long-term value and keep your players up to speed on the team strategy.
When you invest in a virtual CISO to lead your company’s cybersecurity strategy and help guide decisions, you gain an improved security posture and increase risk mitigation.
Bonus Tip: No matter your strategy, a trusted advisory partner can help
Whether you’re looking at good, better, or best cybersecurity practices within your SMB, turning to an expert, vendor-neutral advisory partner like UPSTACK helps you quickly narrow the field of cybersecurity solutions to find the right fit for your business, ensuring you get the best possible ROI on your choices.
An advisory partner can play a similar function as a vCISO, sitting atop the process of security planning and help with identifying risks, prioritizing initiatives, aligning you with service providers that offer expertise, and managing the process for you. This can even include helping to find a resource for a virtual CISO.
At UPSTACK, we specialize in sourcing cybersecurity solutions for SMBs from leading service providers. Our team helps customers evaluate and design both on-premises and cloud-based solutions for end-to-end prevention and detection, so you know you’re getting the most cost-effective and quality protection for your organization. We are especially attuned to the needs of small and medium businesses, and we take pride in architecting cost-effective solutions for every budget and set of needs.
No matter your size, you need and deserve to be protected from cybersecurity threats.
Learn more about Cybersecurity solutions right-sized for SMBs
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