Small businesses face bigger risks
We hear news headlines of data breaches on large companies like Yahoo, eBay and Uber among many others, but smaller and middle-sized business tend to slip under the radar. As larger companies take up significant cybersecurity measures, attackers change their focus on less-resistant businesses and their vulnerable software. These smaller companies are thus more prone to cyber attacks with increasing incidents reported in the past few years. Verizon's '2018 Data Breach Investigation report' found approximately 58% of data breaches to be targeting small businesses. These businesses often neglect the importance of cybersecurity due to:
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its seemingly high costs,
- ignoring the chances of an attack and thereby delaying to implement safety measures.
If your business handles any sort of financial or personal valuable data of your customers, then you are prone to attacks.
But, for many smaller businesses, the budget and resources to ensure a cyber safe system are not adequate. At the same time, cybersecurity is not the area to save costs. If or when in the case of an incident and the attacker asks for a $100,000 ransom, then saving $500 for that Security Software seems minimal in comparison. On top of this, not only cost issue arises but the protection of your customer's personal data will be at risk and the legal implications of these will affect your time and resources.
Why you need Managed Security Service Providers (MSSP)
For a small business, Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs)enable the outsourcing of cybersecurity services. Likewise outsourcing your recruiting, legal services and other services, outsourcing IT services will help smaller and middle-sized businesses focus on their core functions. There is also a range of packages to better tailor to the business' security needs. When outsourcing to an MSSP, your business benefits from 24-hour monitoring and in the event of any issue, the service provider will be ready to respond or prevent incidents.
The benefits of MSSPs:
- High-tech service systems
- Lower costs than recruiting a specialised IT department in your company
- Save on the time and resource of hiring and training IT specialists
- Incident response, restorative services etc.
Indeed, the most significant benefit of a Managed Security Service for smaller businesses is its practicality and cost efficiency. The best security systems wouldn't be effective without the skills to operate them. Good MSSPs will have system and service options for your business and will ultimately customise a solution based on your needs and current technology.