There are two reasons why small businesses should consider hiring a third-party cybersecurity service provider: a shortage of IT professionals specializing in this field and the higher probability of attacks among smaller companies.
You might think that hackers would go after the big-name brands because they could get more from accessing their networks, but this is far from the real situation. More than 50% of cyber-attacks involve smaller businesses since these enterprises are less likely to invest in online security. While it’s true that online criminals can get more from hacking Facebook or Apple, it won’t be as easy as targeting a smaller company.
How You Can Protect Your Business
By hiring a third-party IT service provider, you could choose to focus on a particular aspect of digital security. For instance, penetration tests aim to determine the vulnerabilities of your network. This happens when you hire a group of IT professionals to hack your system on purpose to find out areas for improvement.
Another service involves backing up your data especially with the occurrence of ransomware attacks in the past year. An outsourced cloud service guarantees the safety of information by storing it in different places. None of these services will be useful without proper training for your staff, such as using strong passwords. In fact, it defeats the purpose of hiring an external IT team if your employees have no clear understanding of the importance of cybersecurity.
Growing Cybersecurity Problem
A shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals serves as one reason behind the growing security problem not just in the U.S., but also worldwide. A forecast showed that there would be around 3.5 million cybersecurity job vacancies in 2021. For this year, companies from around the world will need 6 million workers with industry estimates showing a deficit from 1.5 to 2 million employees.
Despite the massive demand for IT security experts, the available number of qualified talents haven’t caught up due to a so-called skills gap. Even if the U.S. ranks as the top exporter of cybersecurity technology, its roster of skilled talents remains few because of this.
Why Demand Grew So Quickly
One reason why cyber-attacks became more common in recent years involves the prevalence of digital tools and technologies. While it made life more comfortable, it also presented an opportunity for the bad guys to learn more on how they could capitalize on this trend.
As businesses become more reliant on computers, many have realized that they only need to gain access to their networks to get what they want. The WannaCry ransomware attack in 2017 served as an excellent example of this. The victims included large healthcare and transportation companies in different countries. If the attack was able to compromise the security of big firms, then infiltrating a small business will be a lot easier for them.
Digital security doesn’t have to cost a lot, and since it’s quite hard to hire a skilled IT professional today, you should think about enlisting the help of cybersecurity service provider. It can be a temporary arrangement or a long-term solution depending on what you need as long as you protect your business from digital threats.
