Ride the Lightning

Must-Know Cyberattack Stats for Small/Medium Businesses

September 27, 2022

Not sure how I missed this, but thanks to Dave Ries, I now have a blog post from Embroker which cites statistics from both Accenture’s Cost of Cybercrime Study and Ponemon’s Institute’s State of Cybersecurity Report – and very useful statistics they are.

Accenture’s study found that 43% of cyber attacks are targeted at small businesses, with only 14% prepared to defend themselves.

According to Ponemon Institute’s State of Cybersecurity Report, small to medium sized business globally state the following, with respect to cyberattacks.

Insufficient security measures: 45% say that their processes are ineffective at mitigating attacks.

Frequency of attacks: 66% have experienced a cyberattack in the past 12 months.

Background of attacks: 69% say that cyberattacks are becoming more targeted.

The most common types of attacks on small businesses include:

• Phishing/Social Engineering: 57%
• Compromised/Stolen Devices: 33%
• Credential Theft: 30%

The longtail costs of a data breach can extend for months to years and include significant expenses that companies are not aware of or do not anticipate in their planning.

These costs include lost data, business disruption, revenue losses from system downtime, notification costs, legal liability costs and reputational damage.

So, for SMBs of all kinds, legal or otherwise, these statistics should be shared with those in charge of overseeing your cybersecurity.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
3975 University Drive, Suite 225, Fairfax, VA 22030
Email:   Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
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