Security breaches that impact major corporations make the headlines. But the consequences for medium businesses can be equally serious and, relatively speaking, just as costly. Kaspersky Labs estimates that, in the first quarter of 2018, the average cost of a single cyber incident for a small and medium business was approximately $120K.
Moreover, a cyber-security breach almost always damages a business’ reputation – one of its most valuable and fragile assets – and frequently results in lost customers, partners and employees, as well as tainted relationships with stakeholders.
Despite the high stakes, many businesses fail to take the measures necessary to reduce security risk. Medium-size enterprises in particular often lack resources and expertise. And because they believe they’re not as significant to be a target, they tend to be less vigilant. As a result, they are slower to identify and respond to attacks. But the fact is that medium-size organizations can have complex network environments requiring multiple firewalls and security appliances, as well as an active Security Operations Center to monitor for potential threats.
"The average cost of a single cyber incident for medium-size enterprises was approximately $120k."