On today’s Business Beat, Jeff talks about cybersecurity threats and their impact on U.S. small businesses.
Tune in below to hear the scary numbers:
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Good morning, Paul!
Now, you know, it’s a killer for businesses these days, having to deal with cybersecurity issues. Isn’t there enough for entrepreneurs to have to worry about? Not only do small businesses have to focus on providing a solid line of defense against these threats, they now have to deal with added expenses relating to cybersecurity insurance. And boy, I’ll tell you, if you do get hit, Paul, it’s really time-consuming and costly to get things put back together, if you can at all. Because cybersecurity threats today can lead to catastrophic data breaches in which your business simply just can’t recover.
Cybersecurity company Surf Shark just released findings compiled from an 18-year study and it suggests that the United States is the most data-breached country globally. The U.S. breached accounts make up 15.4% of all breaches. Since 2004, U.S. Internet users have lost an average of 27 pieces of data in online breaches. Now, as we know, the worst data breaches include the theft of passwords. Even more concerning, the bad guys have been effective at stealing passwords that are associated with names and contact information as well. This gives them broad access to do more harm than just what’s at their fingertips.
Since the start of 2020, 2.2 billion accounts have been breached worldwide. Data shows that in the first quarter of 2022, 304 accounts were breached every single minute.
Now there is some good news to report, even though the U.S. is the most data-breached country in the world, we are taking action to protect ourselves and as a result, the trend in the U.S. is that the breach rate actually fell by 33% in the first quarter of 2022 when compared with the same period a year ago.
So look, if you’re a small business or frankly, even a big one, take action now to protect yourself and your company. This is for real. Make sure you have the proper technological defenses in place and get cybersecurity insurance on top of it.
I’m Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of startupnation.com, and that’s today’s Business Beat on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes, WJR.
