A Cyberween Special: The Scariest Things about a Data Breach for an SMB
A data breach can devastate any business but significantly damage a small and midsize business (SMB). SMBs often have fewer resources to deal with a data breach and have less cybersecurity expertise than larger organizations.
The last thing you want to deal with on Cyberween is a data breach! “What is Cyberween?” you ask. Well, it's that time of year when trick-or-treaters are at the door, and Cybersecurity Awareness Month is in the air! At decodingCyber, we call it Cyberween.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month + Halloween = Cyberween
During this Cyberween season, pay special attention to things that go beep in the night. Many are there to sneak into your network and run afoul.
5 scary consequences of a data breach
Here are some of the scariest things about a data breach for an SMB:
Financial losses
A data breach will cut into any business’s profits, but for an SMB, it can lead to significant financial losses. This includes the cost of investigating the breach, notifying affected customers, and implementing new security measures. In addition, a data breach can damage an SMB's reputation and lead to lost revenue.
Legal liability
SMBs may be legally liable for damages caused by a data breach. This includes the cost of identity theft protection for affected customers and any financial losses they incur due to the breach. With the increase in regional and global data privacy laws, the legal fallout from a breach could stop an SMB from expanding its business.
Damage to reputation
A data breach can damage an SMB's reputation and make attracting new customers and partners difficult. Customers may lose trust in an SMB that has suffered a data breach and may be less likely to do business with the company.
Loss of intellectual property
A data breach could lead to intellectual property theft, such as trade secrets, customer data, and product designs. This could give competitors an unfair advantage and damage the SMB's competitive edge. And what’s really spooky is that you could potentially suffer this consequence even if the breach didn’t happen to you but one of your suppliers — that’s how connected businesses are in the digital universe.
Disruption to business operations
A data breach can disrupt an SMB's business operations and lead to lost productivity. The SMB may need to shut down its systems to investigate the breach and implement new security measures. Additionally, the SMB may need to spend time notifying affected customers and dealing with any legal issues that arise from the breach.
Managing these potential issues is a big reason GRC (governance, risk, and compliance) has emerged as a critical organizational strategy. But you can avoid these terrifying consequences by preventing a data breach in the first place. Easy peasy, right? Haha…well, not quite. But rest assured, we are here to help with some tasty treats for you!
5 articles to help you prevent a data breach
At decodingCyber, our mission is to help organizations get the cybersecurity information they need to make intelligent, strategic business decisions. We strive to make cybersecurity easy to understand so that you don’t have to be an information security Ph.D. with a dozen cyber certifications to protect your business (a big myth about starting your career in cybersecurity is that everyone needs all of those credentials to succeed).
That said, here are five articles to help you keep you safe during Cyberween. Bear in mind that these run the spectrum from conceptual to technical. Preventing a data breach is never just about having a single one-size-fits-all piece of technology. Cybersecurity is too complex and moves too quickly for that. Staying safe is just as much about getting ahead of the game and managing people and processes.
Assessing the Likelihood of a Cyberattack
What are the odds that you will experience a cyberattack in the first place? While there is no way to put a percentage on it, the likelihood of some attacks is high for most organizations, but not all. Figuring out where you stand in the threat landscape and why is one of the first steps to protecting your business.
Best Practices for Building a Cybersecurity Team
Cybersecurity teams are critical for keeping any organization safe. Sometimes, people think that security teams are only for big businesses. Not true! Even small companies should have a dedicated security team. The important thing is to figure out how to build your team strategically. Follow these best practices, and you should find a lot you can do with a small number of people working from a small budget.
Benefits of Cybersecurity Awareness Training
When cyberattacks succeed, it’s often because of human error. Someone clicks a bad link, repeats a password, or forgets/delays updating their computer’s security updates. They don’t mean to infect their business with malware… it just happens because the reality is that everyone makes mistakes. But this unfortunate fact of life comes with good news — the situation is almost entirely preventable through cybersecurity training, which most SMBs can outsource.
How to Spot a Phishing Email
One thing security training will do is teach you and your employees how to identify a phishing email. People tend to receive dozens of emails every day. When you’re busy and working quickly, it can be easy to not really pay attention and accidentally click a malicious link. Fortunately, it’s equally as easy to learn a handful of techniques to help you spot these emails and not fall prey to a phishing attack.
Understanding the Defense in Depth Principle
Defense in depth is when you use multiple layers (and different types) of cyber defenses to stop an attack. This is critical in preventing data breaches because if one of your defenses fails, no problem — you have another to stop the attack from succeeding. This may sound technical, so we break it down in simple terms so you can speak about the defense in depth principles with your security team and ensure your business is abiding by them!
A Special Cyberween Conclusion
When cybersecurity fails, it makes news, and that helps create the feeling that cybersecurity is spooky and terrifying. But remember that cybersecurity succeeds far more than it fails. Yes, cybersecurity is a never-ending war against bad actors, but it is your best weapon against fiendish threats that threaten to haunt you for weeks, if not months, on end.
I see dead people… I wonder if I can share this article with them? Hmmm…
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Cyber 101 | The Solopreneur | SMB | BoD
