Challenges Small Businesses Face with Information Security

A long while ago, we wrote an article about challenges small businesses face with Information Security. You can read it here. 

If you read it, the statistics are no longer valid, but the challenges still remain.

With the way cybercrime ramped up over the last three years, the climate small businesses operate in now is more precarious. From navigating service outages whether it be payment systems/P.O.S, scheduling/appointment platforms, to social media platforms going down, it affects your bottom line. That’s not even the malicious stuff.

There’s a minefield of ransomware gangs to navigate. Dealing with account takeovers where help isn’t coming for you is just as defeating, which we talked about here and here.

Disinformation is an information security threat to businesses that not only affect your bottom line, but your reputation. When prospective clients learn about what we specifically do, they realize they have a huge blind spot because they don’t really look online for the risks and threats we document.

One prospective client told us of an incident a local business they frequented had where some unauthorized digital intruders got into said business’s security camera. The perspective client said they felt creeped out and not safe going in because they didn’t know who was watching the cameras anymore. Clearly this affected their trust in this business and in turn this impacts the business’s reputation and revenue. We covered costs of a data breach to businesses here to show you what businesses have to contend with.

Small business fuels the local economy. If you’re a small business owner, you must shift your mindset to understand that your business has value to a bad actor, whether it’s the data you have or the technology you use.

Also, depending on the state you operate in, there may be State laws that either incentivize you to adopt best practices or you’re mandated to comply. Depending on your business activities, you may need to comply with industry regulations (e.g. PCI) or federal laws/regulations.

The point is, invest a little up front, whether it’s no-cost/low cost tools, to hiring a third party to manage things, to building out a cybersecurity framework. If something happens, there’s potential that the impact of a cyber incident is reduced if you take pro-active measures.

Speaking of which, make sure to sign up for our cybersecurity and OSINT newsletter and follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn to be notified when our Weekly Roundup episodes are released. This Friday’s will be about a Reddit post we stumbled upon about a small business.

If you’re a small business owner, fill out the contact form below to schedule a free strategy call and learn about our services. We offer external risk/threat assessments, help with cybersecurity frameworks, and consulting.