Cyber attacks cost SME's 5b a year

 Cyber-attacks cost small businesses £5bn a year

A Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) poll has revealed that two-thirds of small businesses have been the victims of cybercrime in the last two years. Those hit by such attacks lost on average £3,000 as a result of cybercrime and fraud. The FSB estimates that if the figures are spread across all of Britain’s 5m small businesses, SMEs are collectively being attacked online 7m times a year at an annual cost to the economy of £5.36bn. A total 93% of respondents had some kind of cybercrime defence in place - normally security software and regular backups, but also strong password policies or crisis plans. FSB National Chairman Mike Cherry said of the findings in the Cyber resilience: How to protect small firms in the digital economy report: “Security is important, but given that an element of risk will always be present when operating online, resilience must also be championed. Without a concerted effort to reduce cybercrime and improve resilience, small businesses could be at real risk.”

The Scotsman (11/06/2016)