Why Are Small and Medium-Sized Professional Service Firms Targeted by Ransomware?

SMBs have a number of characteristics, including the fact that they are frequently unprepared to cope with cyber threats. Such occurrences can range from distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) assaults that cause hours of outage to financial loss due to malware and ransomware that can lead to a company's demise.

Why SMBs?

While huge corporations may appear to be more profitable prey, small businesses are an appealing target owing to their lack of means to defend against such attacks. The most pressing issue for SMBs is a lack of employees to deal with cyber-risks, assaults, and vulnerabilities, while budget constraints are the second most pressing issue. The third major difficulty is that businesses may not understand how to protect themselves against cyberattacks.

As a result, it's understandable that personnel are unable to detect possible threats or assaults. The Ponemon research confirms this, indicating that the most common attack vectors for ransomware assaults were phishing and social engineering, with faked websites coming in second and malvertisements coming in third.

This demonstrates how underestimating the need for comprehensive cybersecurity training may harm your business in the long term. While good training is an investment, dealing with the fallout from a ransomware assault may be far more expensive.

The IMPACT

Ransomware is at the top of the list of malware dangers that SMBs face, according to Datto's survey, with one in every five admitting to having been a victim of a ransomware assault. Threat actors often want around $5,900 in ransom. However, that is not the ultimate cost; the cost of downtime is 23 times more than the ransom demanded in 2019, coming up at US$141,000, indicating a 200% rise from 2018.

You haven't even considered the expenses of the attack's detection, investigation, containment, recovery, and reputational harm. Moreover, there's the expense of the information that's been lost.

Some companies may choose to pay the ransom in order to reduce downtime and regain access to vital information, but there are no assurances. The ransomware's hackers may keep increasing the ransom, and even if you pay, there's no guarantee that you'll get your data back.

Methods to safeguard your business

1. To stay current on cybersecurity best practices, all personnel should get frequent training. This can help to reduce the risk of them clicking on potentially dangerous links in their emails that may contain ransomware or plugging in unfamiliar USB devices that may contain malware.

2. Always prepare for the worse and hope for the best, which is why you should have a business continuity strategy in place in the event of a tragedy. It should include a data backup as well as maybe a backup infrastructure that you can utilize when attempting to recover your locking systems.

3. Never undervalue the importance of a trustworthy, comprehensive security solution. It is your first line of protection, in addition to your staff, that you should have up and running to defend you against all types of threats, not only ransomware assaults. Furthermore, ensure that the product is patched and current.

4. EmailAuth provides one such approach to all your email security solutions. With a clear focus on multilayered email security, it provides an automated DMARC solution for businesses to safeguard their inboxes. It extends support to DKIM, SPF, and BIMI, providing insights into the workings of a cyberthreat. It has an integrated email authentication tool to service your email domain and save it from hackers and spammers. You can also use the DMARC email authentication tool to check your record.

In conclusion, if you're in charge of IT for a small to a mid-sized professional service organization, there's a good possibility you'll be a victim. However, a few simple safeguards might be all you need to get out of that low-hanging fruit category and keep you, your data, and your revenue secure. Follow the tips mentioned in this blog to do just that!