Back at the start of the 20th century, there was a garment factory in New York producing womens blouses for the fashion-conscious ladies of the era. In the factory, emergency exits were locked to prevent the 500 immigrant women from taking breaks, and there were strips of cloth and material lying loose around the floor.
Given the dangerous working conditions, a fire soon broke out, and many women were killed, leading to major changes in safety regulations to protect workers in other factories.
But the point is that there were other factories, many of them. And through sheer grace and good fortune, they avoided a similar fate.
This is the case with many companies today, who have avoided a major data breach, due to little else than luck.
Data breaches are happening all around us, and many businesses still are not aware of the fact. I have spoken with companies who justify not needing a cyber security assessment because, ‘well we’ve never had a data breach yet’!
Being small or not having ‘important data’ does not necessarily exclude you from a cyber attack.
Take the time to review your digital assets, and form a plan to both limit the impact of a cyber attack, and improve your ability to bounce back and recover quickly if (when?) an attack occurs.
Check out informationisbeautiful.com for more cool information on data breaches and ransomware attacks over the past few years.
I work with small and medium enterprises to improve their security against online attack. If you are interested in discussing your security or taking steps to reduce your risk, feel free to reach out to me.
