JOIN US3 of 4 SMBs fell prey to cyber attacks in 2020: Study
At least three in four small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India were prey to cyber incidents in 2020, costing Rs 3.5 crore to over 62 per cent of the victim firms and over Rs 7 crore to 13 per cent companies, according to a Cisco study.
The study, based on an independent, double-blind survey is titled ‘Cybersecurity for SMBs: Asia Pacific Businesses Prepare for Digital Defense’.
It highlights that malware attacks affected 92 per cent of the SMBs in India, while 76 per cent fell prey to phishing attacks.
"As they digitise, SMBs are embracing the fact that any transformation, especially one that allows them to meet customers where they are and build trust, must begin with cybersecurity," Panish P K, managing director, Small Business, Cisco India and Saarc is quoted as saying in a Mint report.
As many as 85 per cent of the cyber victim SMBs lost their customer information to the hackers, while many lost internal emails, employee data, intellectual property, and financial information. The attacks disrupted business and resulted in a loss of reputation and customer trust.
About 38 per cent of the SMBs have observed not having any cybersecurity solutions as the reason behind these large-scale cyberattacks, but 36 per cent reported that their solutions were not enough. To deal with such challenges, 91 per cent of Indian SMBs have a cyber response ready and 92 per cent have recovery plans.
Compared to only five per cent of Indian SMBs at the beginning of the pandemic, now almost half (44 per cent) of the businesses are investing in cyber security solutions, compliance or monitoring, talent, training, and insurance.
Over 3,700 business and IT leaders with cybersecurity responsibilities across 14 markets of the Asia-Pacific region took part in the survey.
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