According to a survey of 500 small business owners released Tuesday (11/10/2015), nearly two-thirds of owners said their company has been a victim of some form of cyber attack in the past. Despite that, nearly 80 percent do not have a cyber attack response plan. The survey was commissioned by Nationwide Insurance and conducted by Harris Interactive. (Earlier this year, Nationwide released similar findings from the same survey that revealed only 37 percent of the owners say their businesses have any form of disaster planning.)
79% | Small businesses without a cyber attack response plan
Why do they not yet have such a plan?
46% | Say their software is secure enough
40% | Say they don’t feel their company will be affected by a cyber attack
63% | Small businesses that have been victims of at least one type of cyber attack
What types of cyber attacks have they experienced?
44% | Computer virus
30% | Phishing
22% | Trojan horse
16% | Hacking
11% | Data breach
10% | Issues due to unpatched software
9% | Unauthorized access to customer information
8% | Unauthorized access to company information
73% | Are at least “somewhat concerned” with a potential cyber attack affecting their business
Fortunately, among the 79 percent without a plan currently, there is a high percentage business owners who are coming around to the realization that their company is not immune to the threat of a cyber attack.
Illustrations: ThinkStock