Small firms usually lack cybersecurity measures that larger organizations do, making them appealing targets for fraudsters.
According to a new Vodafone Business research, 54% of UK Businesses have recently been the victim of a cyber-attack of some kind. In a previous study of a similar nature, Vodafone discovered that 39% of SMEs had seen some type of cyber-attack in 2020, showing a growing risk for SMEs at a time since more people work remotely but many enterprises rely on digital technology.
According to a study by Vodafone, 33% of SMEs reported an increase in the number of attempted cyberattacks on their company, while only 18% reported a decrease.
Another study concluded that hackers target high-value accounts for takeover and that CEO and CFO accounts are nearly twice as likely to be compromised as average employee accounts. Once in possession, fraudsters utilize these high-value accounts to acquire information or carry out operations against a company.
Cyberattacks on Small Businesses
Due to a wide range of factors, as listed below, small business owners might not believe it is necessary to devote the time or resources to developing a cybersecurity plan.
- They doubt that they will have a data breach.
- Less money is allocated to cybersecurity initiatives.
- Unsupported and out-of-date systems
- It is no longer supported to use specialized software with out-of-date hardware.
There are still concerns about whether enough SMEs are aware of the need to advance their digital literacy and how many are aware of the resources available to make their cybersecurity threats safer, more secure, and more robust. Too many SMEs continue to overestimate the threat.
Vodafone is urging the Government to do more to spread the word about current efforts to promote the development of local cybersecurity capabilities in order to ensure that more Businesses are protected from online assaults. The necessary funding should be made available to undertake a focused "Cyber Safe" awareness campaign for SMEs as part of this.
