Cyber Attacks on Small Businesses Grow

More than ever before, cyber crooks are targeting small businesses, according to law enforcement and cybersecurity experts. Mom-and-pop businesses are getting hit, and it’s pushing many entrepreneurs to the verge of bankruptcy.

Cybersecurity firm Symantec says that cyberthieves have been increasingly targeting small businesses since 2012.

In 2015, 43 percent of cyber attacks worldwide were against businesses with fewer than 250 workers. Hackers view small businesses as easier targets because bigger companies have ramped up their cyber firewalls, Symantec reports.

In a 2015 survey of 500 small businesses administered by insurer Nationwide, eight in 10 companies reported that they do not have a basic cyber attack response plan, even though a majority were hit by cyber crimes.

Cyber criminals break into small businesses several ways, law enforcement officials say, including phishing attacks, where cyberthieves will blast emails to small business employees pretending to be Citigroup or Bank of America. The emails say workers need to update their online banking passwords and direct them to a phony website that captures their banking, credit card, and identification information.

Small businesses also get hit by ransomware, which shuts down their computer systems, locks up their files via encryption, and demands thousands of dollars to have the data restored.

The cyber crooks steal small business information to do things like drain bank accounts via wire transfers; steal customers’ personal information; file for fraudulent tax refunds; commit health insurance or Medicare fraud; or even steal intellectual property.

Source: Fox Business S