March 24, 2015—Cyber attacks directed at small businesses are increasing, according to new data from Symantec’s 2014 Internet Security Threat Report.
According to the report, one in five small-to-medium-sized companies were the victims of cyber breaches in 2013. The most common cause of a hack was due to a lost or stolen device.
According to Ponemon Institute’s 2014 Cost of Data Breach Study, as reported by Fox Business, hack attacks in the U.S. cost on average $200 per record compromised.
Tim Francis, enterprise and cyber lead at Travelers, told Fox Business that, “there’s an under-appreciation of how vulnerable a small-to-medium-sized business might be to a cyber-event,” and advised being vigilant in safeguarding against hackers.
“For a small business, they may not spend billions dealing with a breach, but there’s a higher risk they’ll be crippled so severely they’ll have to close their doors [after a breach],” Francis said, according to Fox Business.
