Is your business at risk for cyberattack? Small businesses often think they are too small of a target for criminals, but in all reality, they are easy pickings. Usually lacking proper security measures and minimal training, small businesses and their employees can easily fall prey to cyberattacks and online schemes. Whether a criminal gets their hands on an important password or a printout of client credit card numbers, the consequences can be disastrous. Let’s take a look at the hidden numbers behind data breaches, the steps small businesses can take, and what media destruction, data destruction, and hard drive destruction solutions are available to you.
Looking at the Numbers – Small Businesses are Vulnerable to Cyber Attack
The hidden costs of a data breach are terrifying. 26% of small businesses experienced a data breach in 2024, with an average cost of $9.4 million per breach! As a small business ourselves, we will be the first ones to say that that number is astronomical – it can be enough to break a business completely.
With such a high number at stake for a cyberattack, one would think that small businesses would do everything in their power to prevent it. However, that is not the case. Based on in-depth 2023 survey data and analysis of U.S. and Canadian small business leaders (SBLs) and consumers, Shred-it’s 2023 Data Protection Report (DPR), nearly three in four (73%) SBLs and almost all (94%) consumers surveyed are concerned about data breaches in the future.
Despite the concern, only 60% of SBLs say they are proactive regarding data and information protection, and a mere 22% report being ‘extremely proactive.’ It comes as no surprise that this lack of action leaves many small businesses exposed to potential threats. So, where does this leave businesses?
What Steps Can You Take to Protect Your Business?
94% of small business leaders agree that physical data and information protection are just as important as digital data and information protection. Therefore, as a business, you should consider implementing the following immediately:
1: Train Your Employees
IBM’s 2023 Cost of a Data Breach Report shows that the costs of data breaches can be significantly reduced with employee training. Simple training, including online courses, webinars, or in-person events, combined with frequent reminders, could be a deciding factor in employees falling prey to data breaches.
2: Employ Security Measures
Every business should have a security system in place to protect their business. Companies with a small budget would likely want to consider hiring a cyber security agency to implement policies, training, and perform active protection measures. In contrast, a large company may want to consider hiring an in-house cyber and data security officer or team. Either way, active conduct analysis, software updates, data destruction, and staff training should be tasks they perform!
3: Perform Consistent Shredding
Any data left lying around, whether a pile of paper or old hard drives with client information, is a potential risk. Every company should have lockable shred bins where confidential information is placed to be destroyed regularly. Whether you shred in-house or hire a shredding company to perform the shredding for you, it should be a regular part of your business model.
3 Ways to Protect Your Business with CI Information Management
When performing consistent shredding procedures for your business, it can be challenging to maintain on one’s own. The last thing you want is for it to be available for easy breaches. Therefore, media destruction, data destruction, and hard drive destruction are a critical component of business security that we at CI Information Management can assist you with.
1: Media Destruction
At CI Information Management, a wide range of digital and electronic media is destroyed, including CD DVD, Zip disks, and floppy disk disposal. Beyond simply “erasing” the data, our physical destruction process is 100% effective.
2: Data Destruction
Businesses of all kinds collect copious amounts of data, especially physical paper. You are responsible for protecting client information from email lists to credit card numbers. At CI Information Management, we offer one-time purge, reoccurring, local drop-off, and residential shredding services to ensure that all physical content is destroyed beyond retrieval.
3: Hard Drive Destruction
At CI Information Management, we offer on-site and off-site hard drive destruction services. Our equipment physically destroys hard drives by bending, breaking, and mangling the hard drive and its internal components to the point of no return.
Whether you utilize media destruction, data destruction, or hard drive destruction, each destruction operation is accompanied by a Certificate of Destruction, ensuring compliance with state and federal privacy laws such as HIPAA, FACTA, SOX, and GLB.
Looking to set up your shredding security policy? You can request a free quote with us at CI Information Management to learn which options are best for your business. We will help you achieve a secure business!
