Pickpockets At the Carnival

Vulnerable is one of those words that seems to get thrown around a lot without much attention being paid to what it actually means. Everybody knows Superman is invulnerable (except for Kryptonite, of course). But what about the rest of us?

We don’t have to go any farther than the first definition at dictionary.com to find out how vulnerable we really are:

vulnerable (adjective):
1. capable of or susceptible to being attacked, damaged, or hurt

We’re susceptible to being attacked, damaged, or hurt even as we get out of bed in the morning. And it certainly doesn’t get any better after that.

Not You?

We could suggest your drive to work in the morning is fraught with vulnerability and go on from there. But given our line of work, we’re much more concerned with what happens at work, what could happen to your business, and how vulnerable your networks, your data, and your people are every day. And that vulnerability has nothing to do with the size of your business.

According to Byars Wright:

With more than 70% of cyber-attacks hitting small businesses, companies need to realize that it’s not just multimillion-dollar industries these hackers are going after. Small businesses are now a prime target since they’re less likely to have the infrastructure or security measures in place to prevent an attack. Whether this is due to a lack of budget needed to beef up cyber-security, or not believing anyone would want to hack them in the first place, the fact remains that even if the hacker obtains 30 personal information records, it’s a win for them …

  • 54% of small businesses had data breaches involving customer and employee information in the past 12 months.
  • 52% experienced a ransomware attack, and 53% had more than two ransomware incidents in the past 12 months.
  • The average cost due to damage or theft of IT assets and infrastructure was $1,027,053, in addition to $1,207,965 for disruption to normal business operations.

Is there a cost to cybersecurity protection? Yes. But what’s the cost of not having it?

The Bottom Line

The bottom line that could affect your bottom line is that hackers are like pickpockets at the carnival: They’re there because you are. They want what you have. However underhanded or illegal it might be, they’re just doing their jobs. And they’re getting better at it all the time.

It’s your job to protect yourself.

That’s why we’re here.

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