52% of SMBs have experienced a cyberattack in the last year

The consequences of a breach have never been more severe, with global cybercrime collectively totaling $16.4 billion each day, a Devolutions survey reveals.

A recent study by IBM revealed that organizations with fewer than 500 employees had an average data breach cost of $2.98 million per incident in 2021. As has been reported, approximately 60% of SMBs go out of business within six months of getting hacked.

Smaller companies are not exempt from cyberattacks; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Yet many of the tools and resources that larger companies have at their disposal to protect them from cyberattacks are not befitting for smaller companies. There is a gap in the market.

Many SMBs falling victim to a cyberattack

While the pandemic forced many SMBs to scale back their operations, cyberattacks actually increased throughout 2020 and 2021 for small and midsize businesses.

Remote workers in particular have been especially vulnerable to cyber threats since they reside outside of the corporate network environment. And with a large percentage of the workforce still working from home, this extends the threat surface and increases the likelihood of an attack.

Among some notable stats from the survey:

• 72% are more concerned about cybersecurity now than compared a year ago.
• 52% have experienced a cyberattack in the last year – and 10% have experienced more than 10 cyberattacks.
• 40% do not have a comprehensive and up-to-date cybersecurity incident response plan.
• Only 13% have a fully deployed PAM solution in place.

It’s not all bad news, however

A few stats from the survey that reflect the cybersecurity progress being made by SMBs:

• 92% have a process in place to revoke account access for ex-employees.
• 74% are providing their workforce with cybersecurity training.
• 71% are using a password manager to store passwords.

Says Devolutions CEO David Hervieux, “While progress is being made by many SMBs to improve their cybersecurity posture, there is still a lot of work to be done. A key takeaway for SMBs is to take immediate – but at the same time intelligent – action to reduce their risk. That’s why in our new report we’ve provided a series of practical, proven and affordable recommendations to help SMBs make informed decisions.”

The role of MSPs

Managed services providers (MSPs) can play a vital role for SMBs when it comes to cybersecurity support. Since many SMBs don’t have the resources to hire several in-house IT / cybersecurity professionals, MSPs can shoulder a lot of that load, providing services to help reduce risk, enable growth opportunities, and support end users and customers alike.