The Identity Theft Resource Center released Wednesday a report showing the difficulties small businesses and entrepreneurs face after experiencing a cyber incident. The results of a survey of 417 business leaders and IT professionals in companies of 500 people or fewer revealed that about 60% of the small businesses surveyed have experienced at least one data breach, security breach or both, and 75% have experienced two or more breaches. About half of respondents reported the recovery time to return to pre-breach levels of performance was one to two years, while recovery took three to five years for another 28% of businesses. The report states that financial impacts stem from lost revenue and customers and legal and insurance costs, among other factors. The most common measures to cover the cost of the breaches were taking out new loans or credit lines, dipping into cash reserves and using existing credit lines, therefore acquiring more debt. Only about 30% used funds from cyber insurance to cover the costs. Prevention measures businesses took following a breach included implementing new security tools, providing training for IT and non-IT staff, and hiring additional security staff. Read the full report
