According to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s annual report, data breaches have increased by 40% from 2016 to 2017. More than 36.6 million records were compromised across 1,093 hacks from five industries: Financial, Business, Educational, Government, and Healthcare. Of these hacks, a majority took place in small to medium businesses (SMBs).
Organizations are constantly at the risk of data breaches if they deal with personally identifiable information. Even smaller enterprises can take a major hit. According to IBM, small businesses can lose $4.5 million due to data breaches. However, enterprise mobility offers a far effective solution to this issue.
“Are SMBs Really at the Risk of a Data Breach?”
Small and medium sized enterprises underestimate the power of data breaches, which is why they’re more likely to become their next victims. The following five are the top reasons these enterprises are the ideal target for such attacks.
1) Employee Negligence
Employees are an organization’s greatest asset as well as its weakest link. They can be the main reason for data loss incidents due to behaviors such as clicking on attachments or links in spam, leaving office computers unattended, and neglecting to change passwords on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, their negligence places critical business data in the hands of cybercriminals and malicious insiders. SC Magazine estimates cybercriminals steal around US$1 billion annually from SMBs across the United States and Europe alone.
2) Use of Paper Documents
Though many enterprises are digital, they still rely on paper documentation. In addition to the risk of losing these documents, SMBs hardly have a physical security strategy to prevent them from falling in the wrong hands. Even when destroyed, their information can still be extracted and given to the wrong people.
According to IBM’s 2016 ‘Cost of a Data Breach Study’, the cost of lost or stolen records with sensitive information can cost US$158 on average. So, if 10,000 records containing sensitive data is stolen, your enterprise can lost over $1.5 million easily.
3) Lack of Protection
SMBs don’t usually invest into protecting data, be it physical or digital. According to Trend Micro, 65% SMBs claim their confidential data isn’t encrypted or safeguarded. With no technology safeguarding their information, data breaches are detected or discovered mainly accidentally.
With threats like employee negligence and maliciousness added to external threats like hackers, SMBs need to take security seriously. They may need to restructure their security infrastructure to include protection from the inside out as well as outside in.
4) Irregular Data Backup
Daily backup is underutilized in small and medium sized businesses. A combined study by National Small Business Week and Carbonite uncovered only 32% carried out daily backups. Meanwhile, 15% said their most recent backup was a month before they were surveyed. However, one third of companies don’t create backups as they don’t have the budget or resources for this technology.
With the other risks on this list, irregular data backups puts enterprise data at a great risk. The lack of an automated backup and recovery strategy makes smaller enterprises vulnerable to disasters. Consequences such as downtime can even harm companies’ bottom line in the long run.
5) No Data Security Policies
While technologies contribute to protecting sensitive data, companies need to properly manage the human factor. Unfortunately, without data security policies strictly implemented, this can be a challenge. After all, these policies determine who, what, when, and how an enterprise’s data is accessed. Moreover, they limit the damage caused by a social engineering lure.
“But Isn’t Enterprise Mobility Another Threat?”
Many are under the assumption that enterprise mobility can actually increase the risk of a data breach. However, that is not the case. Whether SMBs have an enterprise mobility solution in place or not, the risk of breaches is still high. Approximately 61% of today’s workforce works outside the office and use more than three devices to carry out daily work activities.
The real threat stems from the fact that company data will be moved through public apps you have no control over. Devices themselves can also be compromised by unchecked downloads, online documents, and the like. Enterprise mobility, on the other hand, gives you control over how data flows. It supports communication while allowing enterprises to track and analyze data flow.
That said, the main cause enterprises have failed while using enterprise mobile solutions is their inability to secure their applications. Around 40% of large enterprises don’t adequately secure their apps. Moreover, 33% don’t even test the apps they create. As a result, their mobile apps put them at the risk of data breaches.
“So Enterprise Mobile Apps Can Actually Help with this Issue?”
In addition to the benefits they offer SMBs, enterprise mobile apps can help counter the risks mentioned above. Here’s how.
1) Enterprise Apps Can be Monitored
If most of your employees use personal devices for work, having an enterprise mobile app is ideal. In addition to providing them with a secure channel to exchange information, the app allows you to monitor their behaviors. This, in turn, reduces the risk of employee negligence while improving the security of data.
The right software can help you listen, gather, and co-relate the events and data from applications. However, you will need to define a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) enterprise mobility policy to list which aspects you will monitor through the app. This, in turn, will motivate you to establish more policies to protect your enterprise data.
2) Enterprise Mobile Apps Counter the Inefficiencies of Paper Documents
Substituting paper documents with enterprise apps and mobile forms offers several benefits such as improving organizational efficiency and automating workflows. However, the biggest advantage is increasing data security.
Mobile forms require users to enter their credentials before they can access information, be it to view or edit it. Moreover, data will be easily transmitted digitally and securely stored in business systems, eliminating the risk of misplaced or stolen paper documents. (More here)
3) Mobile Apps Automate Data Storage and Backup
Data entered via enterprise mobile apps can be directly stored in the enterprise’s CRM, ERP, or any business system. With security measures incorporated in the app, data can safely reach its destination without being compromised. As apps can be configured to send multiple copies to business systems and relevant employees, you won’t need to manually create backups for data.
“I Think I’ll Contact an Enterprise Mobile App Developer”
Now that you know how important enterprise mobility can be for your small or medium enterprise, your next step may be hiring a mobile app developer. However, you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars when you can create your own professional, sleek app at a fraction of the cost.
With Makeen transform platform, you can create enterprise mobile forms and add them to a sophisticated app shell. In fact, try the capabilities of transform app yourself by downloading Ready2Use Apps. Tell us what you think in the comments below or email us at support@makeen.io.
