The consequences of data loss for businesses of all sizes are catastrophic. A significant number of companies that lost their data for 10 days and more—whether due to criminal activity or natural disaster—filed for bankruptcy within one year of the incident. Over 94% of companies suffering from catastrophic data loss do not survive and never reopen, and over 51% of them close within two years.
As such, it is important for any business to back up their data regularly and to prioritize cybersecurity. No matter what happens, proper protection can keep your business running in case a natural disaster, hacking, or any other threats to your business happen.
The Probability of Data Loss Has Gone Up
The modern age has seen many aspects of business conducted on computers and networks. Accounting, inventory, and so on are no exceptions. Even the loss of a small percentage of this can permanently impact your enterprise.
A major survey of IT and cybersecurity experts from over 24 countries has shown that data loss has increased by roughly 400% in the last two years, resulting in a combined loss of $1.7 trillion.
Even small cybersecurity breaches in small businesses can have a huge impact. Just the loss of fewer than 100 files can cost a business anywhere from $18,120 and $35,730. These are costs that no business considers trivial. For a small enterprise, this can be catastrophic. No matter how small your operations are, it is important to invest in measures that prevent this problem, rather than waiting around for this to happen before you do anything about it.
The Risk of Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malware or virus that encrypts valuable information in your system, possibly even affecting the entire network. It was designed to lock you out from our own network until you pay a ransom to hackers through undetectable and untraceable cryptocurrencies.
The worst part of this is that hackers routinely target small businesses, especially due to their lack of cybersecurity measures. This was demonstrated in a series of cyberattacks in the USA. It began with a law firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma whose entire library of documents was stolen by hackers.
Cybersecurity experts attribute the increased incidence of ransomware attacks to the fact that they’re low-budget, low-stakes, and don’t require much skill to pull off. Essentially, it is best for easy targets. Among them are small businesses, schools, hospitals, and the average internet user.
The difficulty here lies in the fact that many of these ransomware hackers live abroad, making it difficult for your local authorities to offer any help. These criminals are usually based in Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, India, and China. It has become such a popular scam that cybercriminals from these areas have begun licensing “exploit kits,” which can earn unscrupulous individuals a few hundred dollars every week.
The threat is ever-present, for which preventative measures must be taken at all times.
Final Thoughts
As we’ve demonstrated time and time again in this article, it is important to prevent data loss in every way that you can. This means investing in cloud-based storage software, implementing proper security measures and standards and investing in protective measures will play a hand in preventing costly data losses in the future.
If you’re looking for cybersecurity experts to manage your data and your networks, book a free consultation with us at My IT Central. We provide tailored IT solutions to help you and your business to help accomplish your goals.
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