As the UK prepares to navigate the high seas of Brexit, we have already seen a 4.2% increase in food prices up from the 0.6% food inflation in the previous year, and some retailers are wary of sales figures this Christmas season. In an effort to save money, time, and ensure everyone gets their portion of Christmas pudding, more small business retailers need to prepare for cyberattacks.

Consider the data from Statista showing the sharp increase in the number of data breaches and exposed records over time just from 2015 to 2016, where the increase was 312 million attacks more than any other increase from year to year. Sadly, 2017 is on track to have the highest number of cybersecurity data breaches.

What do these attacks mean for small businesses?

The Cyber Security Breaches Survey, conducted by National Cyber Security Centre, reports that 45% of all micro and small businesses (2 to 49 employees) have identified a cybersecurity attack in the last 12 months. This number is despite the fact that 73% of senior managers consider cybersecurity a high priority.

From the survey, the average cost to small businesses from identified breaches in the last 12 months was £1,380, and over a third of businesses with a reported breach said they needed to invest in new measures to prevent or protect against additional breaches. Quite often these data breaches eat up additional staff time, can cut into profits by stopping staff from working, and 19% of small businesses impacted by a breach reported additional costs.

A breach, even a small one, can cause small businesses thousands of pounds.

Now, some of you might say well, why didn’t these businesses just use some sort of preventative measures? According to the survey about 57% of them had carried out a health check, risk assessment or audit to identify potential cybersecurity risks.

And of all 985 micro and small businesses with 2 to 49 employees just 73% have cybersecurity and risk management measures in place but compare that with the 96% of medium to large business and you can see there is a growing need for small businesses to get on board with cybersecurity measures.

At the rate of cybersecurity attacks per year and the projections for attacks in the coming years, cyberattacks on small businesses aren’t a matter of if it happens but rather a matter of when.

Photo cred: https://www.pexels.com/photo/blur-bright-business-codes-207580/

Sources: The Guardian, Statista, Data.gov.uk