Most large companies are able to financially survive a cyberattack. But for a small business with fewer employees and less revenue, a data breach can bring business to a halt, and costs associated with the recovery can run a bank account dry.
Ransomware, a type of malware designed to render data or an entire network useless, is one of the most common ways hackers will try to extort money from small businesses.
Typically, the victim will have to pay the attacker in exchange for a decryption key, which can cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousands of dollars, depending on the industry and whether a cyberforensics team is needed.
Eighty-nine percent of breaches overall this year had a financial espionage motive, according to the Verizon 2016 Data Breach Investigations ReportOpens a New Window.. It is estimated cybercrimes will cost businesses more than $2 trillion each year by 2019, according to data from CheckmarOpens a New Window.x, a company specializing in application security.
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