Assad Arabi
Building a business from the ground up is always an arduous job and maintaining regular development while keeping operations safe and secure is even more difficult. Entrepreneurs in small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) manage a range of responsibilities for their companies, including financial and reputational security. While this is true for businesses of all sizes, SMBs have a higher challenge since they are more vulnerable to cybersecurity threats that might disrupt operations and damage their development trajectory.
One of the most obvious issues is that SMBs have restricted resources and limited staff. Working under those constraints can lead to a variety of risks in their digital environments. Smaller firms need to address security risks with the same resources that bigger organizations have at their disposal. The reality is that the impact of a cyberattack on an SMB can be devastating, leading more than 60% of SMB to shutting down operations and negating chances of recovery. And as the threat landscape rapidly evolves, businesses need to raise awareness and be proactive against modern cyber threats, among other emerging risk trends.
As per Trend Micro’s Annual Cybersecurity Report for 2021, over 4 million (4,232,791) email threats, and more than 6 million (6,903,023) URL victim attacks were detected and blocked across Qatar. Additionally, over 1 million (1,657,084) malware attacks were identified and stopped. And as the country transitioned into remote work, Smart Home Network (SHN) solutions shielded home devices and prevented more than (7,12,525) SHN events. These figures not only point towards the requirement for organizations to adopt advanced security solutions but emphasize the need for holistic practices that result in a strong cybersecurity culture at the workplace.
Smaller businesses will continue to be prime targets for bad actors, as discussed in the Trend Micro Security Predictions for 2022: Toward a New Momentum report. They will be targeted by commodity malware attacks, where it becomes effortless for malicious actors to penetrate systems with readily available tools without customization. Since SMBs have short-staffed security teams and have to work within budget constraints, they must prioritize securing their endpoints with multi-layered security solutions such as the XDR. It enables enterprises to detect and respond to threats across networks, servers, emails, and endpoints, making sure business operations are not hampered. And, can also be a direct response to the under-resourcing concern, allowing organizations to dissect incidents more quickly, identify critical threat patterns and complex attacks in real-time.
SMBs are the backbone of the economy, as they create meaningful jobs and greater job satisfaction for the masses. Protecting the digital journeys of smaller businesses is key to maintaining stability across the region. With the adoption of cybersecurity awareness training and multilayered solutions, smaller and medium businesses will not only survive the torrential path to success but thoroughly flourish in it.
