Simply put, Data Protection refers to the need for important information to be safeguarded from corruption, compromise or loss.
You are probably wondering whatever happened to the good old days, when all a business had to do was to make deals, pay their creditors and grow.
If dealing with the specter of ransomware, DDoS attacks and cyryptominers weren’t enough of a headache, since May 25, 2018, you’ve also got to protect your clients’ data and your own business-critical data, too. Well, listen up, because the impacts of data regulations, such as GDPR in the EU, and California’s coming CCPA in the US, will add additional burdens to your IT capacity.
Now, while the cybersecurity marketplace features a number of products tailored for small and medium businesses (SMBs), data protection, although benefiting greatly from tech, really relies on preparedness, discipline and adherence to best practices.
Even with a host of technologies to support SMBs, ESET felt the most responsible thing it could do to was to give SMBs a comprehensive roadmap to guide them toward compliance with existing and future Data Protection guidelines. Find ESET’s roadmap here in our “Data Protection for Dummies" “How to” guide.
Why write a “For Dummies” Guide?
The amount of data collected and retained by companies has grown to levels unprecedented 10 years ago, and, while we all appreciate that large companies want to retain our data, it is often forgotten that even the smallest of businesses collect data about customers and business operations. This makes all companies, large or small, a target for cybercriminals.
In the European Union, small and medium-sized enterprises represent 99 percent of all businesses. Globally, this number is 95%. According to analyst firm IDC, 70 percent of all cyber security breaches involve SMEs.
The cost of a data breach can devastate a business, so hoping that your business is too small or uninteresting for cybercriminals is a poor excuse for not taking steps to secure your data.
A UK insurance company, Zurich, reports that more than 875,000 small and medium-sized enterprises were affected by cyberattacks in 2017, at a cost of more than $13,000 for over a fifth of these businesses, and more than $69,000 for one in ten. And for large enterprises, these numbers rise to millions of dollars.
What’s really changed?
Threats to SMBs’ data have been growing for some time, only now costs – or damages, if you like – can also be incurred by not complying with data protection regulations.
That’s why ESET, in conjunction with the “For Dummies” team, has published an e-book called “Data Protection for Dummies”. Be sure to download and read it. It could save your business thousands of dollars, or maybe save it altogether.