The price tag of data breaches has grown steadily over the years and in 2024, the average cost of a data breach is $4.88 million representing a 10% increase from last year. Although small businesses pay less than the estimated average cost, an amount between $120,000 to $1.4 million may be expected to resolve a potential issue. Evidently, data breaches can impact a small business significantly.
According to the Data Breach Investigations Report of Verizon, cyber breaches affect 46% of small businesses or those with less than 1,000 employees. Unfortunately, only 17% are adequately prepared to defend their companies from such attacks. Therefore, it is vital that micro enterprises are prepared to prevent data breaches that could cost significant financial and reputational losses.
Staff Training and Protocols
Ever if you are a one-person business, it is vital to educate yourself or train employess about cybersecurity threats, phishing attacks, and social engineering tactics. For example, an estimated 57% of organizationsexperience daily or weekly phishing attacks. Recent statistics indicate that millions of phishing strikes are launched daily. Therefore, train staff to recognize and avoid phishing attacks as part of your company’s cybersecurity strategy. Educate them about the latest phishing tactics and use recent incidents to illustrate how phishing attacks work. Moreover, it’s important for them to verify a sender’s identity before clicking on links or opening attachments in emails. Test their awareness and response to phishing by simulating attacks. It’s also vital to explain how social engineering techniques are used to manipulate people into revealing sensitive information. Thus, teach employees to be cautious of unsolicited requests even from familiar sources. E-mail security is another vital aspect of cyber security strategy. Encourage staff to be wary of mails that have urgent requests or suspicious attachments. Incident reporting should also be part of security protocol in an office. Employees must report any suspicious emails or websites to the information technology (IT) department. Likewise, it’s critical to implement strong password policies, including the use of complex passwords and regular changes.
Technical Security
In addition to employee training, robust technical security measures must be established. To illustrate, install a strong firewall to protect a small businesses network from unauthorized access. Keep your systems updated with the latest antivirus and malware protection security software. All software including operating systems and applications must be regularly updated while sensitive data must be encrypted to protect it from unauthorized access. It follows that you must also have a backup and recovery plan. As such, regularly backup your data and have a disaster recovery plan in place.
Wi-Fi networks at the office are weak points in overall security. Thus, use strong passwords for your network and enable encryption. Restrict access to sensitive data and systems to authorize personnel. It’s also a good idea to use network monitoring tools to detect and respond to security threats. As part of your data protection practices, only collect and store the necessary data and establish policies for data retention and deletion. Store and secure sensitive data securely both physically and digitally. In addition, develop a plan to respond to data breaches and minimize damage. Carefully vet third party vendors and ensure they have adequate security measures in place.
Through staff training and implementation of technical security measures, small enterprises can significantly reduce the risk of data breaches and protect valuable information. Financial losses, reputational damage, and legal liabilities are devastating consequences that can also be avoided.
