Cyberattacks are a common threat in the business world, and small businesses must adequately prepare for them. Failing to act proactively to prevent a cyberattack can cause a business to sustain significant losses and incur severe liability. Unfortunately, this oversight is a common mistake among small business owners. Your clients may be small business owners. Therefore, you must prepare them for the possibilities of cyberattacks and caution them not to underestimate the threat.
Here are a few reasons small business owners and managers may fail to recognize the dangers.
Small business owners often have to wear many hats. They might be their own in-house IT department for an entire company.
When business owners elect to put their time and money into other aspects of running the business instead of cybersecurity, it may seem like a reasonable thing to do. However, it can hinder their focus on finding solutions to preventing a data breach. In hindsight, not allocating adequate resources for cybersecurity or cyber insurance could be regrettable.
Your clients must understand the importance of cybersecurity and how to prevent cyberattacks efficiently. Small business owners who make room in the budget to outsource IT services may think that the company they outsource to will be responsible if they experience a cyberattack. In reality, outsourcing does not relieve businesses of their responsibility to keep their customers’ data safe.
When MGAs or carriers endorse policy insurance software and administration tools such as Verity, the fact that another company handles IT management or online marketing tasks is unlikely to make a difference in the issuance process. Likewise, businesses facing lawsuits over data breaches cannot compel customers to seek a legal remedy from the insurance carrier of the outsourcing provider that they believe to be responsible for customers’ damages.
Of course, businesses or their insurance carriers can seek their own remedy against an outsourcing service company’s insurer, but they do not have a guarantee of getting it. Moreover, irreparable harm to a business’s reputation could lower its long-term earnings outlook.
The news stories about data breaches that get a lot of attention typically involve large corporations, and the most jaw-dropping headlines report thousands or millions of affected customers. Nevertheless, cybercriminals do not set their sights on just mega-sized companies with massive customer bases. Any size business could make an attractive target to someone looking to gain access to companies’ financial accounts or information about customers they can use to commit identity theft.
Across every industry, business owners of all sizes must be vigilant about online threats. To prevent a cyberattack before it happens, they must identify their most extensive areas of risk exposure and take adequate measures to enhance security protocols.
Say goodbye to outdated systems and begin looking at a solution that will provide what you need to increase productivity, decrease costs in the long run, deliver frictionless transactions, and remain competitive in today’s environment. For more information about VRC’s Verity software and to book a demo, click here or contact us at 541-209-0700.
