More and more small businesses are being hit with security attacks — but they're fighting back

4 days ago 3

New research from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) has claimed American businesses are facing more cybersecurity events and attacks than ever before.

The report highlights a rise in the number of US small enterprises, defined as those with fewer than 500 workers, experiencing a data or security breach in the past year. Last year, four in five (81%) fell victim, up from fewer than three-quarters (73%) the year before.

ITRC also noted financial losses from these breaches have skyrocketed, revealing the importance of establishing a stronger security posture.

SMB attacks

On average, affected businesses in the small enterprise category are now dealing with losses of more than $500,000, which ITRC says is double what had been reported last year.

Despite the higher prominence of attacks, companies claim to be addressing the challenge. Four in five expressed their commitment to strengthening their security, including cybersecurity training for both IT and non-IT staff (88%), the deployment of new security tools (65%) and increased security budgets (67%).

CEO Eva Velasquez introduced the report by highlighting the importance of adopting passkeys, which are not susceptible to traditional theft methods.

Businesses weren't the only ones to fall victims to cyberattacks – more than four in five (82%) individual consumers also experienced a data breach in the past 12 months. The report also notes a 21 percentage point increase in identity theft victims in the past year.

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COO James Lee added that data breaches are the “fuel for most cyberattacks and identity crimes committed today,” which gives both businesses and consumers a clear target when tackling their cybersecurity. AI might have helped criminals to write better code to steal sensitive information, but by protecting this with encryption and cryptography, the chances of an attack become far slimmer.