Small and medium enterprises (SME) are just as vulnerable and prone to cyber attacks as large conglomerates or organizations, contrary to popular belief. As the digital world enters into a new dawn of technological advancements and becomes more integrated with our physical world, more and more hackers are out there in the hunt for targets to exploit.
There have been tens of thousands of examples where hackers would target small households while browsing the internet, further cementing the thought that no one is safe. Many people think that only large organizations and large businesses are targets for cyber attacks. But that could not be further from the truth as small and medium-sized businesses, as well as, households have been found targets for these malicious attacks.
Why are SME’s Targeted?
A business doesn’t have to be on Forbes top 100 in order to be subjected to cybercriminals. Cybersecurity is something that is often times overlooked by SEM’s and according to data, more than 60% of SME’s in the United States have experienced a hacker attack. What’s even more daunting is the fact that a lot of SME’s close their doors permanently after they’ve been targeted by cybercriminals.
Below we will explain why SME’s are considered just as prone to cyber attacks as large organizations.
• Lack of Cybersecurity
The number on reason why SME’s are frequently targeted by cybercriminals is their lack of investment in cybersecurity. Complacency is a real issue in today’s digital world, and SME’s often times overlook the prospect of being targeted by cybercriminals, according to experts at BC Networks. Cyber attacks are a real threat to SME’s and hackers understand that these businesses have little to no money on improving cyber defenses.
• SME’s Cane be the Gateway to Larger Organizations
Another interesting fact is that hacker’s target SME’s because of their cooperation with large organizations. Hackers know that it might be impossible to breach the firewall of large conglomerates due to their extensive cybersecurity. But we mentioned how SME’s have little to no money spent on cybersecurity, so they target them as a way to get into the defense system of larger organizations.
• SME’s Will Pay the Ransom More Often than Larger Organizations
The prospect of someone breaching your systems and blackmailing you for your valuable data is a daunting thought for most business owners. However, SME’s are more inclined to pay the ransom set by hackers in order to prevent their precious company from falling into doom.
What Are the Challenges Facing SME’s?
The biggest challenge that faces SME’s is the fact that cybersecurity is one thing that should be paid more attention to. As we all know, the IoT is the future of technology, but it opens the gateway to more hacker attacks. As all devices are connected to the IoT, they become more vulnerable to ransomware attacks and other forms of cyber attacks. SME’s have to make sure that all of their devices are set properly in order to prevent a network breach.
Another difficult challenge that faces SME’s is insider human culprits, or inside sabotage. There have been dozens of cases where company employees have abused their privileged access in order to harm the company itself. While there might be dozens of reasons as to why the employee has chosen this course of action, the problem still persists and SME’s need to find a way to keep employees happy.
