60 percent of small companies cannot sustain businesses after a cyber attack: Report

The U.S. National Cyber Security Alliance has said that 60 percent of small companies cannot sustain businesses over six months after a cyber attack, according to DenverPost. The report, citing the Ponemon Institute, further states that an average cost to ‘clean up’ businesses is $690,000, and for middle market companies it could be well over a million. Needless to say, smaller companies become the usual targets of cybercrime as they are easy to attack. Hackers steal information that is used from robbing bank accounts to fraudulent tax refunds. The report goes on to explain that most of these breaches could be owing to a wrong move by an employee. Citing an example, the report explains, “One click and the company’s system was infected with Crytowall malware that affected accounting software, customer account files, including credit card numbers, social security numbers, customer names and addresses among other information.” This software did not live on the employee’s computer rather on the network drive, and eventually the malware was able to encrypt 15,000 accounting and customer files. Awareness among employees can help curb such incidents. The report also goes on to mention basic training and an incident response plan in place could also help. The system should be up-to-date with security software content, and whenever in doubt about any file, it is best to delete it. Always encrypt the most sensitive data, and cyber insurance could also be considered, are also listed among things to consider. The increasing number of data security incidents have also put cyber insurance in a prominent position within a company. Many small tech startups in India are data driven, and investing in cyber insurance isn’t always a feasible option. Talking on this, at the recent Kaspersky Security Weekend, Lionel Tan, Partner at Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP, who specialises in data protection and cyber security issues told us “Startups are constraint by resources and with people investing in the company, they want to ensure the business is viable. However, cyber attacks can wipe off a company. It is important to invest in IT security and have a look at cyber insurance. The breach will have impact on revenue. So, it becomes worthwhile to think about cyber insurance with an affordable premium.”