Cyber Threats Faced by SMEs: Allianz Report
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) published a report, indicating the threat and dangers which can prove disastrous to numerous small and medium-sized companies. Despite this report, many companies still misjudge the power of this cyber interruption.
A statistical report carried out by the seventh annual Allianz Risk Barometer 2018 indicated that companies with a turnout revenue between €250 million ($308.9 million) and €500 million ($617.8 million), stands to encounter bigger threats as regard to cybersecurity. Companies with annual turnover less than €250 million ranks second.
About 47 percent of the SME business experts in all records account for the risk barometers. This survey carried out by Allianz involved 1,911 respondents from 80 countries. The respondents involved in the survey are risk consultants, brokers, managers, experts, and Allianz’ customers.
The rate of cyber incidents has skyrocketed and has resulted to an alarming rate of interruption in cybersecurity, a survey indicated that the rate for of cyber incident for medium-sized companies rose from third to the first position, while for small sized company scaled from sixth to second. In order to be mindful of the devastating effect of the interruption, awareness is being done in order to enlighten companies and adequately prepare them for how to tackle such incidents.
Over 50 percent of small businesses have become victims of cyber incidents. This was revealed from a study carried out in Ponemon Institute. Another study from Kaspersky Lab revealed that it cost about $117,000 for a data breach for SMEs in North America. This survey makes the impact of cyber-attack imminent.
Most SMEs are susceptible to cyber threat because most companies do not have enough resources to bear the cost of owning an IT department or purchasing the right asset to ensure they protect themselves against the cyber threat.
As part of the solution made accessible for SMEs, a partnership deal has been executed between AGCS and Silicon-Valley based software company Zeguro. A platform (virtual CISO) which empowers SMEs to get security recommendation as well as preparing workers was innovated.
Insurance for cyber threats is befuddling and can be difficult for SME-sized businesses to incur. Be that as it may, other coverage which is easily accessible, less demanding to understand has been made available.
Business interruption tops the risk for small enterprises, which represent 33 percent of response as compared to the previous year report of (27 percent) and this tends to be the biggest concerns for SMEs. In spite of the fact cyber incidents are ranked as the biggest threat in 2018, the business interruption can be considered a close contender.
The threat posed by business interruption is evidently increasing and rank high in the SME risk rankings. The effect of these threats cannot be overemphasized. Another great influencer of the BI risk that affects SMEs is the disruption of the supply chain.
Some pivotal strategies that prompt outsourcing during an interruption includes avoiding supplier’s geographic concentration, monitoring mergers, and acquisitions among suppliers. Conclusively, we can deduce that the main challenges faced by companies are business interruptions, and cyber incidents.