Don’t Build Your Cybersecurity Confidence on the Sand

            The Bible uses the now-famous parable of the house that was built on the sand. When the rains came and the storms hit, the house fell because it did not have a firm foundation. Unfortunately, the cyber departments of many organizations are running the same way. They have survived the last couple of years without a major incident and so they believe they are secure.

A recent article released by Help Net Security revealed that Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) are becoming increasingly confident that their organizations will not suffer from costly cyber attacks. In fact, the number of CISOs who believe they are likely to suffer an attack in the next twelve months has dropped by almost 16%! Yet, the problem with this stat is, as the article notes, very few of these CISOs have made any significant improvements to their security environments to reduce these attacks. Instead, the increased confidence in the resiliency of their departments stems from the idea that they didn’t suffer a costly attack last year. Such confidence makes little sense.

If police inform you that there is a crime spree in your neighborhood, do you ignore them because you didn’t get robbed last year or would you take extra care to make sure your house is protected? If your doctor says that you are at risk of a heart attack, do you ignore him because you didn’t suffer a life-threatening heart attack last year or would you get a second opinion and take steps to protect yourself? Most people would consider ignoring such warnings to be foolhardy. Yet, this is exactly what many CISOs are saying about cyber attacks.

The truth is that cyber experts across the world are raising the alarm that attacks are coming. Statistics support these claims. Cybercrime statistics from April 2022 show that the number of organizations suffering cyber-attacks has increased by 600%. Meanwhile, the cost of such cyber-attacks has increased by more than 15% each year. Nor are these attacks aimed at large corporations, governments, and big businesses.

In fact, almost half of all cyber-attacks are aimed at small businesses. Unfortunately, most of these small businesses are easy targets for even the most unskilled attackers. Reports show that less than 30% of small businesses take even the most basic steps to defend themselves against financial loss from cyber attacks. Such a statistic is unsurprising when reports show that less than 5% of small business owners consider cybersecurity to be a high concern for their business. Such ambivalence to a big threat is shocking when one realizes that 43% of all cyber-attacks are aimed at small businesses and that more than half of all small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) go out of business after a single cyber-attack.

If you are a small or medium-sized business owner or CISO, don’t let yourself be fooled by overconfidence. Attackers are coming for your business and your employees. Take steps now to defend yourself and your company. Many quality defenses and tools can be deployed cheaply and efficiently. Reach out to a security specialist today to find out how to avoid becoming the next cyber victim without breaking the budget.