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Cybersecurity and the new normal

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More than half of small and medium sized businesses in the Philippines have been victimized by cyberattacks in the past year, with a quarter of them saying the incidents cost their business at least P25 million, a study by IT and networking company Cisco revealed.

The study found that 57 percent of SMBs in the country suffered a cyber incident in the past 12 months, 73 percent of which lost customer information. These had a significant impact on their business, with the report indicating that 28 percent of those SMBs which suffered cyber incidents said these cost the business $500,000 or more, while 10 percent noted the cost to be $1 million or more.

Beside the loss of customer data, SMBs that suffered a cyberattack also lost employee data, sensitive business information, internal emails, financial information, and intellectual property. 65 percent admitted the incidents had a negative impact on their reputation.

Nearly half of the respondents that suffered a cyberattack highlighted cybersecurity solutions not being adequate to detect or prevent the attack as the number one reason for the incidents.

Malware attacks affected 81 percent of SMBs in the country, followed by phishing with 78 percent saying they experienced such attacks in the past year.

The rapid digitalization of SMBs as they cope with the effects of the COVID pandemic has made them attractive targets for malicious hackers as digitalized businesses have an expanded attach surface and generate more data that make good targets.

As we continue adapting to the new normal and chart our long and arduous path to recovery, we will have to invest more in cybersecurity in order to safely and confidently take advantage of the benefits offered by digitalization that most of us have discovered while spending almost two years in various states of isolation.

Securing our homes and businesses from cyberattacks and hackers is something we could no longer afford to take for granted.*

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March 2024
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