Survey Says Most Small Businesses Unprepared for Cyberattacks

Reprint from Security Magazine

Most small-business owners (78 percent) still don’t have a cyberattack response plan, even though more than half (54 percent) were victim to at least one type of cyberattack.

About 60 percent of those who did experience a cyberattack said it took longer than a month to recover. By contrast, of those who have not encountered a cyberattack, more than half (57 percent) think their company could recover within a month.

The findings stem from Nationwide’s second annual Small Business Indicator, a national survey conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Nationwide from June 10-23 among 502 U.S. small-business owners with fewer than 300 employees.

“Cyber criminals are getting more sophisticated and realizing that small businesses are easy targets,” said Mark Berven, president of Nationwide Property & Casualty, the No. 1 total small-business insurer. “That’s why we wanted to raise awareness of this trend for both agents and their small-business clients during National Cyber Security Awareness Month.”

According to the survey, 45 percent of small-business owners who do not have a cyberattack response plan in place said they don’t feel their company will be affected by a cyberattack (compared to 40 percent last year).

At the same time, the majority (68 percent) are at least somewhat concerned about a potential cyberattack affecting their business — especially since 54 percent were victim to at least one type of the following attacks:

• Computer virus (37 percent)
• Phishing (20 percent)
• Trojan horse (15 percent)
• Hacking (11 percent)
• Unauthorized access to customer information (7 percent)
• Unauthorized access to company information (7 percent)
• Issues due to unpatched software (6 percent)
• Data breach (6 percent)
• Ransomware (4 percent)

If you have any questions or need assistance in determining the best plan of attack for your organization – contact us.