Dive Brief:
- One-third of small- to medium-sized businesses were hit by a cyberattack in the past year, Microsoft Security said Thursday in a report conducted by research firm Bredin.
- The average total cost of a cyberattack on SMBs was nearly $255,000, but some incidents cost as much as $7 million, the report found. The highest average costs were attributed to investigation and recovery, and the reputational impact on a SMB in the wake of an attack.
- “Despite this, many SMBs still hold misconceptions that increase their risk and vulnerability. Some believe they are too small to be targeted by hackers or assume that compliance equates to security,” Scott Woodgate, general manager of threat protection at Microsoft Security, said in a report released alongside the survey results.
Dive Insight:
The frequency and cost of cyberattacks on SMBs accentuates the sometimes underappreciated fact that attackers have and will target businesses of all types and sizes.
SMBs confront additional pressure because they often lack the resources and expertise to enact and manage advanced security measures that could detect, thwart or…
