McAfee’s latest Global Small Business Study reveals that cybersecurity remains one of the greatest concerns of small businesses in Australia, with 71 per cent saying it is one of their biggest risks or vulnerabilities.
The data indicates that cyberattacks are on the rise, as 48 per cent of small businesses have experienced a cyberattack, and 14 per cent have experienced more than one. For 54 per cent of the organisations that experienced a cyberattack, the incident occurred in the last two years, indicating that the threat of cybercrime has become more prevalent.
The study notes that 64 per cent of cyberattack victims lost more than $10,000, while 54 per cent of the business owners and IT decision-makers indicated that the cyberattack on their business took a physical or mental toll on them and/or their staff or colleagues. In 68 per cent of the cases, the business lost more than a week of valuable time dealing with IT issues due to the attack. Furthermore, small companies reported loss on customer data (42 per cent), passwords (38 per cent) or other files (29 per cent) as a result of these attacks.
Small-business owners are found to be at a significant disadvantage when faced with malicious messages that are increasingly realistic and frequent thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). The report recommends that small businesses make use of AI themselves to combat these AI-based threats as the technology can work in their favour to proactively protect them in real-time before they even know they have been targeted.
The report also found that, while many small-business owners understand that cyber threats are something they need to plan for and invest in mitigating, only 35 per cent of business owners/IT decision-makers were very confident in the ability of their business to prevent cyberattacks. A total of 57 per cent manage cybersecurity without the help of external expertise or resources, and only 36 per cent said they focus on overall general IT issues more than seven hours a week.
Because of this, 26 per cent of business owners worry about cyberattacks daily and 68 per cent believe their cybersecurity risks are increasing. And 21 per cent reported that the cyberattacks they experienced were due to a vulnerability in outdated or unpatched software that was breached. However, 51 per cent are confident that their employees are able to take necessary steps to protect company devices and IP.
