Can Your Business Effectively Mitigate the Risk of Cyber-Threats?

Almost daily we hear news of hacking attempts and data breaches, and most small businesses are left wondering how they can protect themselves from becoming a victim of cybercrime. This is a legitimate concern, because 58% of malware attack victims are categorized as small businesses and this stat appears to be on the rise. In fact, many SMBs see phishing scams and other malware attacks as the number one threat facing their business. While there are many tools that can prevent an attack from penetrating your business network, businesses often overlook the factor that makes them most vulnerable to attack – their people.

That’s right, people are the weak link in cyber security for businesses. Employee negligence is the main cause of data breaches, according to a state of the industry report by Shred-it, an information security company. In 2017, data breaches cost companies an average of $3.6 million globally, according to a separate report from the Ponemon Institute. For smaller organizations especially, that price tag could wipe out the business. Also, a data breach can also cheapen a company’s brand and negatively impact their ability to do work.

Despite this, approximately 65% of SMBs report having no employee training on cybersecurity. The research and advisory firm Gartner maintains that applied examples of cybersecurity awareness training easily justify its costs. According to their data, untrained users click on 90 percent of the links within emails received from outside email addresses, causing 10,000 malware infections within a single year. By their calculations, these infections led to an overall loss of productivity of 15,000 hours per year. Assuming an average wage of $85/hr, lost productive costs reach $1,275,000 which does not necessarily account for other potential costs such as reputational damage, remediation cost, or fines associated with breaches.

Information security training can change user behavior to stop handing over the keys to the kingdom. Cybersecurity awareness training, when it includes features like realistic phishing simulations and engaging, topical content, can elevate the security IQ of users, reducing user error and improving the organization’s security posture along the way.

Connecting Point can help your organization assess its exposure to information breaches and develop a security awareness training program to educate your employees. Please contact Connecting Point at 970-356-7224 to discuss Cybersecurity and employee training for your business.

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