Avoiding cyber complacency as a small business

As a small business owner reading endless news stories about cyberattacks against well-known enterprise names, it can be easy to think it won’t happen to you. In reality, hackers don’t discriminate: businesses of all sizes can, and do, find themselves on the receiving end of data breaches, and the financial and reputational consequences that often accompany them.

According to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024, half of all UK businesses, including many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), reported experiencing a cyberattack within the last year. Despite these high attack rates, only 22 percent of businesses have a formal incident response plan in place, leaving many SMBs vulnerable to serious financial, operational, and reputational damage. This cyber complacency can have serious repercussions if not urgently addressed.

How to spot the signs

Understanding the reasons behind cyber complacency is the first step towards resolving the issue and ensuring full data protection, regardless of the size of the business. Here are a few common warning signs that an organization may overlook.

Out-of-date security procedures

You can’t fix the future with yesterday’s tools. Many small companies are guilty of maintaining basic or outdated cybersecurity measures. While financial or logistical considerations may play a part in this, the truth of the matter is that security threats are constantly evolving and hackers are constantly identifying new vulnerabilities to exploit. Using inadequate software is simply no longer an option.

Priorities elsewhere

Unlike larger firms, SMBs often have limited resources and may devote their time and energy into other aspects of their business. Cybersecurity might be further down on their to-do list, especially when dealing with a variety of operational challenges. This oversight can also contribute to a lack of regular security checks, which means weaknesses are not identified until it’s too late. This approach to security must be avoided at all costs.

Cost dilemmas

For small business owners, investing in cybersecurity solutions might be seen as a waste of precious budget when the purse strings are tighter than ever. However, it’s been proven time and again that the cost of recovering from a cyberattack can be far greater than any data protection expenses. One report, for example, estimates the average cost to remedy an attack to be £21,000. If a business suffers multiple incidents, the costs can quickly rack up.

A cyberattack poses serious risks to a company, including widespread disruption, huge financial losses, compromise of sensitive information and significant reputational damage. While the initial investment in cybersecurity may seem steep, it’s much more cost-efficient in the long run than simply hoping for the best, and putting out fires when disaster strikes.    

How to steer clear of complacency

Once aware of how cyber complacency can creep into a small business, preventing it from happening becomes much easier. With a comprehensive approach, companies can protect themselves against the potential impact of a cyberattack. Below are some key recommendations to bear in mind.

Be vigilant

It’s harder for cyber criminals to compromise small businesses if they’re always on the lookout for threats. While much of the responsibility for this should rightly fall on the business itself, this is difficult to do comprehensively with limited resources.

This is where managed service providers (MSPs) have a major role to play. Rather than trying to deal with multiple security systems all at once, it’s useful for businesses to find a suitable partner to take care of their cyber needs. Many of these organizations offer advanced all-in-one solutions and frequent audits of a company’s cyber posture, making sure that businesses are constantly ahead of the game.

Stay educated

Cybersecurity education is not just an IT concern but a critical business imperative. Employees unfamiliar with common cybersecurity practices are much more likely to fall victim to phishing scams and ransomware attacks, two of the most prevalent methods cyber criminals use to breach business defenses. Phishing, for example, involves tricking individuals into divulging sensitive information, such as passwords or financial details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in electronic communications. This vulnerability, often due to human error, can lead to serious financial losses and reputational damage.

By empowering employees with the necessary knowledge and skills to recognize and avoid phishing attempts, organizations can significantly reduce their cyber risk and foster a security-conscious culture. Providing regular training, simulated phishing tests, and clear policies are all essential to effective cybersecurity education. Businesses should also keep employees up to date on emerging cyber threats through engaging content and frequent updates to stay alert to potential dangers.

Implement immutable and air gap backups

Educating employees is of course vital, but even well-trained teams are not infallible, making robust data protection measures equally essential. For instance, cybercriminals frequently target backups to compromise data recovery and business continuity, which is why implementing immutable and air gap backups has become so crucial. Immutable backups are designed to be unchangeable once written, so even if cybercriminals gain access to the backup system, they cannot alter or delete data. Air gap backups, on the other hand, involve physically isolating backup data from the network to prevent any electronic access, achievable through offline storage methods like tape drives or removable media.

Implementing these backup practices enables businesses to enhance their resilience against cyber threats, ensuring data integrity, security, and availability. These strategies offer a powerful step towards maintaining operational continuity and safeguarding business-critical data in the face of potential cyberattacks.

Have a plan in place

Although taking precautionary measures is the first line of defense, it’s also wise for small business leaders to have a plan in place if a cyberattack does happen, and in today’s world, this is almost inevitable.

In the event of a data breach, the last thing anyone should do is panic. With a clear and methodical disaster recovery and business continuity plan at the ready, organizations can easily diagnose an issue, respond and recover from the attack, while learning from the experience to be better prepared for next time. This allows businesses to rapidly bounce back from a system failure or outage, reducing downtime and helping them to resume normal operations as quickly as possible.

Cyber complacency is an underlying threat for many small businesses, but the tools are very much there to help companies shore up their defenses and achieve peace of mind. Encouraging good cyber hygiene, putting comprehensive software in place and developing a calculated, forward-thinking defense strategy are all vital ways in which organizations can protect their data, reputation and bottom line. Partnering with the right cyber experts can go a long way towards achieving these goals.

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Steve Doust is Group Sales Director - Business Solutions at Kyocera Document Solutions UK.