For small and midsized businesses (SMBs), it’s now more a matter of when, not if, they’ll be targeted for cyberattack. Gone are the days when they could take some comfort knowing hackers were singly focused on hunting larger, more data-rich and deeper-pocketed prey.
According to the latest ITRC Business Impact Report, 73% of owners or leaders of SMBs indicated their organization had experienced a data breach, cyberattack or both in the previous 12 months. In 2024, meanwhile, cyberattacks increased 56% through the first three quarters of the year for businesses of all sizes, according to Check Point. Overall, more than 40% of all cyberattacks are aimed at small businesses, according to figures quoted by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
Cyber criminals now recognize SMBs as viable targets, largely because their cyber defenses tend to be less formidable than those of larger organizations. For SMBs, the reality is, wherever there is an internet connection and technology — even if it’s just to process credit cards — cybersecurity measures are warranted. And as costly as a cyberattack can be, the stakes are too high for companies not to counter today’s increasingly sophisticated threats (phishing, ransomware, malware, third-party associate attacks, etc.) with equally sophisticated cybersecurity measures.
As financially devastating as a cyberattack can be to a business, regardless of its size, it’s imperative that companies regularly assess the cyber defenses they deploy relative to the threat landscape, and be sure the protections they have in place are adequate. (The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency [CISA] offers SMBs free cybersecurity audits and resources; the SBA also provides free cybersecurity resources.)
If they aren’t, then you owe it to your business and customers to shore up your defenses. As for businesses that lack cyber defenses of any consequence, now is the time to put protections in place.
But where to start? How extensive and sophisticated should your cyber defenses be, based on your risk profile? Are affordable cybersecurity solutions available to help SMBs address those risks?
The answer to the latter question, fortunately, is yes. Depending on your company’s size, risk profile and budget, security capabilities such as a next-generation firewall, zero trust network access (ZTNA), secure web gateways (SWGs), cloud access security brokers (CASBs), endpoint protection platforms (EPPs) and remote browser isolation (RBI) can provide solid protection for most smaller businesses.
SMBs can start by implementing a single layer like ZTNA. This ensures only the right people can access your network and is typically a good starting point. Then they can add measures as they grow and their risk profile changes. For many businesses on the smaller range of the SMB spectrum, this will be enough to protect against most threats.
Companies that have grown beyond the mom-and-pop or startup stage, however, could require a more sophisticated security solution. For them, a multi-layered strategy that provides enterprise-grade protection, without the enterprise-level cost, could be the best option.
Security Service Edge, or SSE, is one such solution. It essentially gives SMBs the kind of enterprise-grade cybersecurity solution that was once accessible and affordable only to much larger businesses. SSE combines multiple advanced security measures, including ZTNA, CASB, data loss prevention (DLP) and the handful of the others listed above previously — all within a single cloud-based stack to provide protection that’s as sophisticated, persistent and adaptable as the would-be attackers you seek to thwart. The result is a strong, flexible security framework that secures all endpoints, users and applications on an existing network out to its edge, even as the contours of that edge shift. As such, it’s well suited to hybrid work environments.
For SMBs, there’s plenty more to like about SSE:
- It can be implemented easily and quickly, in a matter of days.
- It’s network-agnostic, meaning it can be laid over the top of existing network and IT infrastructure, without disrupting your operation, and without requiring major new investments in hardware (because it’s based in the cloud) or big changes to your current setup.
- It’s budget friendly. Not only does SSE eliminate the cost and hassle associated with point solutions and appliances, but it also comes at affordable subscription-based rates (below $100/month per location in some cases). The subscription structure also provides cost certainty.
- It’s scalable, enabling companies to expand their SSE set-up as the business grows.
Another reason SSE appeals to SMBs (and large companies, for that matter) is the service wrapper around it. SSE can also be delivered as a managed service, so it comes with a cyber security operations center (CSOC) team that essentially functions as an extension of your internal IT team to implement, monitor, update and troubleshoot on your behalf. That’s important for companies with lean IT teams and limited IT resources and expertise.
The larger the business (in terms of locations, complexity and reach of infrastructure and network surfaces requiring protection), the more sophisticated its cybersecurity requirements will tend to be. That’s why companies on the larger end of the SMB spectrum are looking at another multilayered security solution called Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). In fact, SSE can be a logical steppingstone for an organization to eventually shift to SASE, which
packages the components of SSE with additional security layers and a powerful cloud-based network solution called SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network) that’s well suited to mature businesses with multiple locations.
As a fully converged, network and cybersecurity cloud construct, SASE is an easy-to-manage solution that’s eminently scalable for businesses with multiple branches and a hybrid workforce. What’s more, the SD-WAN component gives companies a highly reliable, low-latency, high-bandwidth network to maintain uptime, intelligently route traffic and support all the internal and external-facing apps on which a business relies.
SMBs today are squarely in cyberattackers’ crosshairs. Now, whether it’s SASE, SSE or a single layer of protection like ZTNA, they have the security capabilities at hand to protect themselves from the onslaught.
