Hello Corporate America! Let’s ask the question why should cybersecurity matter to small and medium size businesses? If we define cybersecurity as measures taken to protect a computer system against unauthorized access, we are given the reason it matters. It is important to deny unauthorized actors or organizations access to a company’s intellectual property or sensitive information. Company principals and/or company management are the owners of their company’s sensitive data and should act with intention to protect their data and intellectual property. Especially when the data contains the personal and/or financial information of clients and customers. These are the assets of the company as much or more so than actual cash and should be thought of and protected as such. Now, let’s look at the odds that a breach will occur.

What is the likelihood that your small or medium size business will be the target of ransomware or malware? According to the 2020 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report, 28% of the breaches and incidents included in the report affected small businesses. If my public-school math serves me that is a little over one small business is affected in four breaches. I think this statistic might be underestimated due to a lack of information in some of the reporting reviewed by Verizon. Therefore, more small businesses may actually have been affected than is reflected in the Verizon report.

Additionally, small businesses presumably have less resources to protect their assets with and have fewer assets they can afford to lose. It has been reported that 60% of small businesses hit with a cyber-attack or data breach go out of business within 6 months due to the cost of remediating cyber incidents and breaches. This is even more of a reason why cybersecurity matters to small businesses.