According to Cybersecurity Ventures, businesses record a new ransomware attack every 11 seconds. With Symantec estimating that the U.S. accounts for up to 18.2% of global ransomware incidences, there is enough reason for your Chicagoland business to be concerned.

According to IBM, a data breach cost small companies (with an average of 500 employees or fewer) $2.74 million in 2019 and  $2.35 million in 2020. For larger companies (with an average of 25,000 employees or more), a data breach cost an average of $5.11 million in 2019 and $4.25 million in 2020. One dilemma business leaders face in the IT world is whether to outsource IT support or maintain in-house staff.

In the contemporary data-driven world, cybercrime is a more significant concern for organizations than ever before. Information is the new oil, and everybody is crazy about it—including the bad guys. The cybersecurity threat is real and is getting more severe by the day.

If you think your small or medium-sized Chicagoland business is too small to be a potential cyberattack target, you need to think twice. According to a 2019 CNBC study, SMBs account for up to 43% of all cyber incidents globally. In the U.S., Keeper Security estimates that the percentage could be as high as 76%.

If you focus on cyber incidents that hit the headlines, you may think that the bad guys only target large corporations.

A rule of thumb in cybersecurity is that nobody is entirely safe. In other words, even the most sophisticated data security technologies are susceptible to breaches. The sooner you can spot and avert potential threats in your organization's network, the safer you become.

Data is the new oil—you've probably heard this a million times. Information is every organization's most priceless asset. How well you collect, store, analyze, and use data plays a significant role in your company's survival and growth.

It's because of data that you have an IT support team.

With technology integrated into almost all your day-to-day activities, keeping your online data is significant now more than ever before. HTTPS is a more secure hypertext transfer protocol that's an improvement of HTTP. Some call it an encrypted website connection or the lock icon in the web address bar.

Almost every business leader at one point faces the dilemma of whether to list the services of a cybersecurity provider or have an IT Guy. Both alternatives have their fair shares of pros and cons, but cybersecurity providers stand out as the better option.

Ransomware is inarguably the most prominent type of malware. Initially, ransomware attacks were unsophisticated hacks on personal devices where cyber attackers demanded a few bucks as ransom. However, as technology continually becomes an integral part of business processes, cyber actors have advanced their tactics and "commercialized" ransomware.

The general opinion is that you need complex technologies and data security systems to prevent most cybersecurity threats like malware and supply chain attacks. While we may not entirely disagree, any data protection technology is only as effective as your staff can understand and use it.