“SMBs are not just targets of cybercrime, they are its principal target”

says a U.S. Security and Exchange Commission report from last fall. In fact, the majority of all targeted cyberattacks last year were directed at SMBs.

The New York Times, in its article No Business Too Small to Be Hacked, said that 60% of all online attacks in 2014 targeted small and mid-sized businesses. Of those attacked, more than half (60%) would go out of business within 6 months of a data breach. That’s a lot of broken dreams and heart ache because of a lack of security.

Small and mid-sized businesses use Avast for Business to protect from cyberthreats.

Small businesses lack IT expertise and budget

SMBs make attractive targets because they often neglect their security or rely on older consumer security software for protection. Money is always an issue, and sometimes the budget doesn’t allow for an expensive security package.

Just recently, our free, cloud-managed security solution, Avast for Business, passed a milestone – more than 1 million endpoints protected in less than a year. From our relationship with IT admins in sectors as diverse as Education, Non-profits, Retail, IT consulting firms, and SMBs, we have learned that many organizations lack in-house expertise or resources to install costly and complex security solutions.

“All we wanted was a simple security solution that worked, and I knew we didn’t have to pay a fortune for it,” said Tyler Hisel, an IT technician in Ohio.  “Avast was cost saving and had lots of features that I was surprised came free,” he said, “I’ve got to hand it to you, it’s really an impressive product and it being free just makes it better.”

How to protect your organization from cyberattacks

• Install Avast for Business to protect your PCs, Macs, and servers from hackers and data breaches. Avast for Business is easy to deploy and monitor. Our customers tell us that even IT-challenged staff have no issues using our security solution.
• Create strong passwords. This is an easy piece of advice that many small business people fail to take. We understand that using passwords which are 20 characters with a mix of capital letters, numbers, and symbols is challenging to manage. That’s why Avast has created Avast Passwords, a free password management system which creates strong, unique passwords for each of your accounts. It’s free in all Avast Antivirus programs, and synchronizes across your devices.
• Train your employees. Many hacks originate from employees clicking on malicious links or websites. Explain the concept of social engineering to your employees, what the most recent methods of attacks are, and the latest malware threats. Follow this blog or Avast on Facebook or Twitter to stay informed.

Avast for Business is available for every business worldwide

Avast for Business is free for every organization worldwide. Visit Avast for Business to learn more and sign up.