Cybercriminals are vipers. They're like snakes in the grass, hidden behind their keyboards, waiting to strike. And if you're a small- and medium-sized business (SMB), your organization is the ideal lair for these serpents to slither inside.
With cybercriminals getting increasingly clever, SMBs like you must do more to defend themselves. But at what price? That's the challenging question many SMBs are compelled to ask. Amidst your everyday challenges, the answer appears obvious: avoid investing in a solid cybersecurity solution for the time being. However, the alternative is to cross your fingers and hope hackers don't locate you. That, of course, isn't the most prudent tactic, as the uncomfortable truth is threat actors now perceive your organization as an easy road to profit. Therefore, if your defenses are weak—or just not there—these digital crooks are likely to disrupt your operations, access important data, and extort a huge ransom.
In this article, we'll cover the financial implications of a cyberattack and why installing a managed endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution can help protect you from falling prey to cybercriminals.
Why Cybercriminals Focus on SMBs #
It's not uncommon to witness cybersecurity budgets being trimmed left and right these days, especially among SMBs. With funding for protection being redirected—or worse yet, removed entirely—many SMBs no longer have the knowledge, technologies, or staff to tackle cyber threats on their own.
Cybercriminals are fully aware of these shortcomings, making you a readily exploitable target. Unfortunately, many SMBs end up learning one lesson the hard way: cyberattack recovery costs can be substantially more than the initial investment required for an efficient cybersecurity solution
Many SMBs Aren't Prepared for the Inevitable #
In our analysis, The State of Cybersecurity for Mid-Sized Businesses in 2023, we observed that roughly 25% of SMBs have either suffered a cyberattack or didn't even recognize they had suffered one in the prior 12 months. More notably, we observed the following resource gaps for mid-sized businesses:
- 61% don't have specialized cybersecurity specialists
- 47% don't have an incident response plan
- 27% don't have cyber insurance coverage
Threat actors prefer that these gaps exist. It allows attackers to access networks, steal sensitive data, disrupt operations, and collect ransoms, all with little effort.
Cyberattacks Can Be Costly, Even for Large Enterprises # SMBs need to be extremely watchful. In 2023, Harvard Business Review showed that breaches can result in an average stock price decline of 7.5%, with market value losses in the billions.
If publicly traded companies—presumably with higher cybersecurity budgets and infrastructures—can be targeted like this, then SMBs can be brought to their knees with comparable hacks.
As an SMB, if you aren't prepared to recognize and halt cyberattacks, the financial strain can be crippling, especially with indirect expenses and huge price tags. First, your usual activities may be disturbed, potentially requiring additional labor efforts and longer cash cycles to restore to normal. Plus, you may need to employ third parties to help you rebuild your systems. Finally, there may be additional fees related with identity theft, credit monitoring, or even legal procedures.
A Managed EDR Solution Helps You Stay Ahead of Evolving Threats#
Endpoint detection and response, or EDR, is a common solution aimed to alert threat activity before it becomes a larger problem. EDR solutions can identify, evaluate, and mitigate potential threats across individual endpoints, such as computers, laptops, and mobile devices.
For standard EDRs to be impactful, however, security teams must constantly monitor for risks. But you may not always have these in-house expertise on hand. In reality, even larger organizations are battling to obtain resources these days, as there's a huge shortage of cybersecurity talent.
This is why a managed cybersecurity solution—such as Huntress Managed EDR—is vital for SMBs today. Managed EDRs outsource your day-to-day activities of threat monitoring, detection, and response to a dedicated team of cybersecurity professionals.
Specifically, Huntress Managed EDR is backed by a 24/7 Security Operations Center (SOC), staffed with professional cybersecurity specialists. Our SOC professionals manage and triage alerts on your behalf, helping you fix issues swiftly.
From ransom payments to lost data to operational delays, the list of unpleasantries can go on and on. If you ever find yourself on the wrong end of a criminal breach, the cybersecurity recovery fees alone can deplete your coffers. A managed EDR solution, like Huntress Managed EDR, supported by our 24/7 SOC, will assist minimize these possible hazards while freeing up your budget for other essential parts of your business.
Here's the Kicker - There's More at Stake Than Just Money #
Today, it's usual to discover budgets being trimmed, leaving cybersecurity staff overextended, overworked, or nonexistent. Simply simply, your vulnerabilities provide the ideal snake hole for slippery cybercriminals.
If your resources are limited, you may assume managed solutions are out of reach. However, incident expenses often exceed the price of a managed EDR service.
While we concentrated entirely on cash in this essay, the truth is there's more than just bank accounts that might be wiped out. We welcome you to dive further into the catastrophic costs of cyberattacks. Our recent eBook, The True Cost of a Cyberattack, uncovers more than simply the financial difficulties; it also explores the reputational harm, psychological traumas, and legal repercussions these malevolent attacks can bring about. Download the eBook.
Looking to boost up your security with Managed EDR? Start a Huntress trial or request a demo.
