Small businesses in New York face an increasingly perilous cyber landscape, as the state ranks third in a new study by Sprinto.com, revealing the financial losses due to cybercrime in the US. The study underscores the need for businesses to adopt a security-first mindset and invest in robust cybersecurity measures.
On average, small businesses in New York lose $32,040 per fraud complaint, with the most frequent types of cybercrime being non-payment/non-delivery, identity theft, personal data breach, and social media. South Dakota and Alabama rank first and second, with average losses of $59,960 and $57,477 per complaint, respectively.
Sprinto.com, a security compliance automation platform provider, analyzed the latest data from The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) to highlight the importance of cybersecurity safeguards for individuals and businesses across states. The study found that personal data breaches, non-payment/non-delivery, extortion, and social media fraud rank among the most common types of cybercrime in most states.
Business Email Compromise (BEC), also known as Email Account Compromise (EAC), is the costliest type of fraud, accounting for the highest losses in 42 states. Fraud incidents have been on the rise, with the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network data book reporting a 18% increase in 2021, reaching 5.74 million reports.
Organizations lose an average of 5% of their revenue to fraud each year, and the estimated cost of fraud for US financial institutions in 2021 was $4.2 billion. In response to these alarming figures, a spokesperson for Sprinto.com stressed the importance of risk management in technology and data security.
“Adopting a proactive approach to data security, including regularly updating all software, using strong passwords, and being vigilant against phishing and other types of cyber threats, is the surest way of reducing and even preventing cybercrimes of such scale,” the spokesperson said.
Emphasizing the need for a security-first mindset, Sprinto.com experts recommend that digital businesses prioritize a ‘security-by-default’ approach and invest in tools and programs that ensure data security. By adopting compliant behaviors and investing in effective security and compliance-monitoring solutions, businesses can build trust with others and operate with the assurance of security.
With cybercrime on the rise and small businesses in New York among the most affected, the call for a security-first mindset has never been more urgent.
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