How small businesses can defend against cyberattacks

Hackers are increasingly targeting the little guys. Here's how entrepreneurs can protect themselves.

Small business employees.
(Image credit: Hero Images Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo)

Could you afford to lose $117,000? According to one estimate, that's how much a digital data breach can cost a small business. Add to that startling number the fact that it takes an average of three days to stop a cyberattack, and the potential financial and operational damage becomes worryingly real.

"All of a sudden you're bouncing checks because you thought you had a couple thousand dollars in your account," Green Bay Police Department Capt. Jeremy Muraski explained while discussing the fallout for a local business that found itself in a hacker's crosshairs. "All your bills go out, get paid, but there's no money to support it, so then you have a bunch of creditors after you. So it leaves kind of a trail of destruction in its wake, for sure."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Laura Oliver

Laura Oliver is a freelance journalist based in Brighton, U.K. She has written for a range of titles including The Guardian, NPR, and Atlas Obscura. She was previously Head of Social and Communities at The Guardian.