Large organizations are typically required to make data breaches public, especially when data is stolen or compromised. It’s rare to hear about smaller organization reveal that they’ve experienced an attack. This creates a false sense of security. That data breaches only happen to large organizations, and only massive data sizes are targeted. SMB’s believe they are simply too small for hackers to bother with, and that their data has no value. This is exactly why SMB’s are very attractive to hackers and more vulnerable to a surprisingly costly breach.

Similar to the perception that only larger organizations are targets, many SMB’s believe it is expensive to adequately protect their organization. Perceived costs such as expensive hardware, high salaried IT security employees or costly consultants, and enterprise security software are simply out of range for smaller organizations. When weighing IT security costs vs cost of data loss, most SMB’s are willing to take the risk without knowing the true cost of either. That’s why 60% of small businesses that are crippled by an attack can never recover.

Most SMB’s already struggle to comprehend their existing IT environment. Adding IT security to the mix is even more overwhelming. There is a perception that IT security is so serious that it must be very complex to implement. Even concepts for basic protection such as antivirus, ransomware protection, training end users, are confusing to non-technical decision makers. That ‘fear of complexity’ paralyzes smaller organizations from allocating the time and resources necessary to adequately secure their organization.

As hyper fast as attacks change, so do the IT Security product pitches. That means an endless barrage of fear base product pitches and noise. Security is the new buzzword, and it’s exhausting. The cyber security market is spread so thin that these pitches come from nearly every type of vendor that touches your network. From copier companies to new antivirus products, there are just too many security angles to comprehend what you really need. It all becomes noise that SMB decision makers simply tune out – and do nothing.