5 Reasons Hackers Target Small Businesses

Hackers Targeting Small Businesses: Reasons Why

Cyber insurance claims rates are on the rise and the majority of victims are small and midsized businesses being hit with cybercrimes like funds transfer fraud and ransomware attacks, much of which is made more possible by the rise of remote working. But what makes these organizations attractive to cybercriminals? In this article, we tell you about five reasons.

5 Reasons Hackers Target Small Businesses

1. Small Businesses Are Low-Hanging Fruit

While the headlines focus on major security breaches at large companies, small and medium-sized businesses are actually more common victims of cyber attacks. In fact, 43% of cyberattacks are aimed at small business according to Verizon.  Even though the rewards may be less, cybercriminals see smaller organizations as low-hanging fruit because-- due to lack of education and resources --they usually invest less in IT security and don't often train their staff on cybersecurity risks.

Learn more about how employees can help reduce cyber risks.

2. Small Businesses Are More Vulnerable to Social Engineering

Social engineering is an act of manipulating people into doing things like sharing confidential information or wiring money. Small businesses tend to be more exposed to this risk for a number of reasons: they have less basic security in place, like two-factor authentication; they don't often know the risk or train employees; they usually work with a variety of third-party partners to run their business which is the root cause of 41% of data breaches; and they frequently make and receive payments using wire transfers.

3. Small Businesses Often Feel They Must Pay Ransoms

Faced with choosing between paying a ransomware demand that may get them back online faster or enduring a long period of potentially business-crippling downtime, small businesses often feel that they have no choice but to pay these demands in the event of a ransomware attack. Without anyone to turn to for help, this is particularly true of those without access to the cyber incident specialists that cyber insurance can provide.

4. Small Businesses Are the Gateway to Larger Organizations

Many small businesses are connected electronically to the IT systems of a range of larger, partner organizations. So when cybercriminals are looking to infiltrate these larger and more cyber secure organizations, they are increasingly targeting their downstream suppliers to see if these small businesses offer a less-secure way in. What's more, many of these IT relationships are visible through publicly available data.

5. Small Businesses Are Sometimes Collateral Damage

From the WannaCry attack back in 2017 to the Blackbaud attack where over 125 organizations in the UK reported that they had a potential data breach, small businesses are often collateral damage in large-scale cyber attacks that have nothing to do with them. Small businesses might think they are safe because they outsource their IT and their data is stored in the cloud, but if a cyber attack is launched against one of these technology providers, it's the businesses that rely on it that are often left footing the bill, whether paying for the business interruption costs involved, privacy notifications to customers, or reputational harm.

How to Protect Small Businesses from Hackers

Acrisure can provide cyber support by helping you develop cyber insurance coverage and cybersecurity protocols to keep your small business on track and help protect it from hackers. From small business insurance to risk management business solutions for businesses of all sizes, Acrisure can help.

Please contact our cybersecurity team at Acrisure Cyber Services to discuss your business's specific needs and concerns so we can assess and address your cyber preparedness. Or if you are seeking the right small business insurance for your business, including cyber insurance, request a small business insurance quote today.

The insurance policies described are placed by Acrisure, LLC and/or its insurance producer affiliates. The non-insurance cybersecurity and related cyber services described are provided by Acrisure Cyber Services, LLC, an affiliate of Acrisure, LLC.