43 percent of cyber attacks target SMEs

In 2015, phishing campaigns targeted small businesses 43% of the time. That is up 9% over 2014 and a stark contrast to 18% of attacks that focused on small businesses in 2011.

Symantec’s report shows that about 1 in 40 small businesses are at risk of being the victim of a cybercrime. That pales in comparison to the 1 in about 2 large businesses which are targeted every year, multiple times, with a cyber attack.

These phishing attacks target employees largely responsible for the finances of a small business. Malicious email messages sent to these employees that are opened could hijack an entire company’s financial information and gain access to funds and personal information.

Symantec also notes that ransomware attacks are also on the rise and targeting not only employees but any devices connected to a company’s hacked network. Symantec says it has instances on the record in 2015 of attacks on the Internet of Things, too. That includes attacks on smartphones, smart watches, and a smart television. In these attacks, there is a demand for some type of payment before a device may be freed by its attacker.

The report also reveals a 55% increase from 2014 to 2015 in the amount of spear-phishing campaigns that target employees of a business of any size.