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Why are Cybercriminals Targeting SMBs?

Maybe you are still living in a secret dreamworld cybercrime is someone else’s problem. Even today, IT managers and the C-team at SMBS often believe hackers only target large, prestige targets. But do a little research, you’ll see a different picture. That’s wrong and dangerous. Let us show you why.

Wake Up and Read the Numbers

Let’s start with a few alarming statistics gathered for us by the intrepid folks at Devolutions Blog in a great blog post from May of this year:

Even though you may not read about it or see it in the news, current stats show that more than 50% of all attacks are on small to medium-sized businesses (SMB). Here are three reasons why hackers are targeting SMBs.

Targets of Opportunity - Low Investment in CyberSecurity

The first thing to know is that the vast majority of attacks are randomly generated by bots or hacks running scripts looking for known vulnerabilities robots. So your company doesn’t have to be targeted by an evil cybergang that has singled you out. You may just be the victim of a numbers game. In this game, everyone gets hit, and if your cyber defences are weak - you lose.

While large companies have dedicated security staff and the means to afford effective security measures, SMBs tend to have limited or no cybersecurity budgets, leaving their networks vulnerable. In, fact 43% of SMBs in the US and UK have chosen just to roll the dice and don’t have any cybersecurity defence plan in place to deal with a cyberattack. And an even larger proportion of SMBs have no specialized cybersecurity personnel on staff. You see the problem. With no or insufficient defences, automated attacks can breach your perimeter and install ransomware, exfiltrate sensitive data or just generally wreak havoc.

Cybercrime Pays - Even SMBs Hold Valuable Data

You may think, what do I have that a cybercriminal would want? But you don’t need to have tons of IP to be a target. Many of you hold customer information that could be worth top dollar on the dark web. According to Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach report, 86% of all breaches are motivated by profit, leaving 14% for espionage and revenge/mischief.

PII or personally identifiable information is the key. For example, personal details, SIN/Social Security numbers, credit card information, or even highly sought-after medical data. Cybercriminals can sell banking information for $35 per record on the dark web. American driver's license info is worth $550 per license. And the data found in a Canadian passport is up to $1,500! And prices for protected PII (like HIPAA in the US.) can command huge premiums.

The Human-factor

No matter what you invest in security systems, as long as your team doesn’t have proper security awareness, you are at high risk. Your people are your weakest link when it comes to cybersecurity.

Yes, hackers will try to find vulnerabilities in your network. But, more often than not, employees who aren’t sufficiently aware of the risks of phishing and password management open the door for them. Nearly 55% of hacking incidents are down to human error.

A 2020 report by The Aberdeen Group found that practical security awareness training reduced social engineering risks by up to 70 percent. So as a small and medium-sized business, investing in security awareness training should be one of your priorities.

It’s Time to Take Action

As of 2019, the average cyberattack cost SMBs $200,000, a figure that is high enough put many SMBs out of business. If you aren’t protected, then you’re at risk of becoming a statistic. You may not be a specific target. But don’t fool yourself. You are a target.

A Few Recommendations

  • Conduct a security audit, make a plan, and educate your employees about security risks, particularly phishing
  • Implement one or more intrusion detection tools (like StreamScan’s Managed Detection and Response service) that allow you to have 360-degree visibility of your network's security
  • Patch your software!
  • Don’t rely solely on firewalls, anti-viruses and security event management tools (SIEM) only protect against known (old) threats
  • Monitor your network to identify cyberattacks that target you. Monitoring allows you to identify effective protection measures to put in place
  • Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) for remote access
  • Implement robust access control: user accounts should lock automatically (e.g. 10 minutes) after 3 or 5 failed access attempts
  • Use VPN for remote access instead of RDP
  • Check regularly if your information is for sale on the Dark Web.
  • Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) to access your email in the cloud (Office365, etc.).

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We’re convinced that after seeing our MDR solution (powered by our CDS network monitoring technology) in action, you won’t want to leave your network unprotected again. So we are offering a 30-day free trial that includes:

  • Fact-finding session
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