WSJ: Hackers Increasingly Targeting Small Businesses

This recent article in the Wall Street Journal confirms a topic we mentioned in a recent QuickTip, namely that because of the perception that small businesses generally employ less-robust security measures than larger enterprises, hackers are increasingly viewing small businesses as easy cybercrime targets.

“With limited budgets and few or no technical experts on staff, small businesses generally have weak security. Cyber criminals have taken notice. In 2010, the U.S. Secret Service and Verizon Communications Inc.'s forensic analysis unit, which investigates attacks, responded to a combined 761 data breaches, up from 141 in 2009. Of those, 482, or 63%, were at companies with 100 employees or fewer. Visa Inc. estimates about 95% of the credit-card data breaches it discovers are on its smallest business customers.”

Prevention remains the best defense against security breaches, and that includes educating employees in best-practices, especially in regards to using strong passwords and not giving security information out over the phone.