Switzerland based insurance company Chubb says that cyber attacks can cause financial amercement and ruin the reputation of small and medium scale business on a permanent note.
The recent report published by the cyber insurance provider says that on an average business face a loss of $400,000 which might push an SMB into doldrums forever. And since, Jan’16, the average cost of repairing business and its reputation has reached an exuberant i.e $4,000 per day.
However, many firms do not know the dire stats of cyber risks and so are still showing laxity towards rising up their cybersecurity defenses.
“SMBs are directly clashing with cybercriminals in the United States and across the world. However, they do not know the consequences of this face-off and so are still assuming that their business will never become a soft target to cyber crooks”, said William Stewart, divisional president of Chubb’s Global Cyber Practice.
Adding to this assumption is the fact that most of the cyber attacks against small and medium scale businesses often go unreported by the media. So, the company heads are failing to understand the true extent of the risks as most of them think that hackers only attack companies with larger dimensions in order to access data from the databases said Stewart in a statement.
Merely the reality is quite opposite to what is being assumed as SMBs are most vulnerable and considered as prime targets to cyber crooks, as their security measures are likely outdated or underrated.
So, how SMBs can protect their firm’s assets from cyber attacks?
Chubb emphasizes that most of the cyber incidents are preventable, as most of them erupt from human errors or due to lack of awareness. At the same time, the globally renowned insurance provider suggests the following preventative measures
A.) Invest in resources for creating a cyber attack response plan which can be executed as soon as an emergency occurs.
B.) Usage of a secure password manager can help employees manage their credentials in a secure way.
C.) Creating awareness among employees about the prevailing risks in the cyber landscape can help reduce social engineering attacks such as phishing.
D.) Install a good anti-virus solution and keep it up to date.
E.) Update the legacy hardware and software with the latest
F.) Install network monitoring solutions in order to stay proactive
G.) Last but not least, purchase a comprehensive cyber insurance plan to stay safe from risks
