Discover how Sheridan, IN businesses protect themselves from cyber threats that target nearly half of all small companies nationwide.
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The cyber threat landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years. Small and medium businesses have become prime targets because hackers know they often have weaker security systems with fewer protections in place. This isn’t about being unlucky—it’s about being unprepared.
60% of small businesses now say cybersecurity threats are their top concern, and for good reason. The attacks are getting more sophisticated while the costs keep climbing. Your location in Sheridan doesn’t provide any protection from threats that operate globally through the internet.
The reality is stark but manageable if you take the right steps now.
Understanding how attacks happen helps you recognize and prevent them. Email phishing, spear-phishing, and social engineering continue to be the most common and reliable means of illegally accessing networks, with phishing and pretexting accounting for nearly 73% of breaches in some sectors.
These attacks work because they target your employees, not just your technology. A single clicked link or downloaded attachment can give criminals access to your entire network. Social engineering attacks rely on human interaction and psychology to get targets to break normal security rules, and small businesses are particularly vulnerable, with those having fewer than 100 employees receiving 350% more threats than larger companies.
Ransomware represents another major threat. 71% of ransomware attacks target small businesses, with an average ransom demand of $116,000. These attacks encrypt your files and demand payment for the decryption key. Even if you pay, only eight percent of businesses that pay ransom to hackers receive all of their data in return.
Business email compromise attacks are also surging. The FBI reported more than $2.7 billion in losses from business email compromise alone in 2024. These attacks intercept legitimate business communications and redirect payments or steal sensitive information.
The key insight here is that these attacks succeed through a combination of technical vulnerabilities and human error. Your defense strategy needs to address both elements to be effective.
The financial impact of cyber attacks extends far beyond any ransom payment. On average, a cybersecurity incident costs SMBs between $826 to $653,587, with cyber attacks causing an average loss of $25,000 for small and medium-sized businesses. For many Sheridan businesses, this represents months or even years of profit.
The average total cost of a data breach in smaller companies increased from $2.92 million in 2022 to $3.31 million in 2023. These costs include immediate response expenses, lost business during downtime, regulatory fines, legal fees, and the long-term impact on customer trust.
Recovery time compounds these costs. The average business recovery time after an attack is 279 days. For a small business, nearly nine months of disrupted operations can be fatal. This explains why 60% of small businesses shut down within six months of a cyberattack.
Beyond direct financial losses, attacks damage your reputation and customer relationships. Small businesses often collect sensitive customer data including credit card info, social security numbers, bank account info, and addresses, meaning that beyond the damage a business sustains when breached, customers may also be impacted through identity theft and privacy violations.
The harsh reality is that 83% of SMBs aren’t prepared to handle the financial fallout of a cyber attack. This lack of preparation turns what could be a manageable incident into a business-ending catastrophe.
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Effective cybersecurity isn’t about perfect protection—it’s about making your business a harder target than the next one. While many small businesses remain in denial about cyber threats, a growing number are paying attention and taking action, realizing they cannot afford a successful attack and need adequate defense and response strategies in place.
The good news is that strong, cost-effective protection is possible even for businesses with modest IT budgets. Your defense strategy should include both technical controls and employee training, since attacks target both your systems and your people.
Start with the fundamentals and build from there. Many successful defenses come down to consistent execution of basic security practices rather than expensive, complex solutions.
Your cybersecurity foundation should include several non-negotiable elements. Multi-factor authentication represents your first critical defense. 80% of all hacking incidents involve compromised credentials or passwords, making strong authentication essential. Only 20% of small businesses have implemented multi-factor authentication, leaving the majority vulnerable to credential-based attacks.
Regular software updates and patch management prevent many attacks. Nearly 29,000 new vulnerabilities were reported in 2024, with thousands rated critical—many exploited due to poor patching. Keeping your systems updated closes security holes that criminals actively exploit.
Data backup and recovery planning gives you options when attacks succeed. You should identify critical assets and data, create and store backups offline and separated from the network to ensure you always have an unaffected fallback, and remember to set scheduled backups to prevent loss of newer, unsaved business data.
Employee training addresses the human element. Humans are still exploited as the “weakest link” in cybersecurity plans, and even when appropriate software, hardware, and patches are in place, the human element still provides a weak point for entry. Only 56% of small business owners provide cybersecurity training to their employees once a year, and just 24% send phishing test emails to employees.
Network segmentation limits damage when breaches occur. Isolate network segments so appropriate security can be placed on communication across devices, which can be done through network or host-based firewalls.
Many Sheridan businesses find that partnering with a managed IT services provider offers the most practical path to comprehensive cybersecurity. 47% of businesses with fewer than 50 employees have no cybersecurity budget, making it difficult to hire in-house expertise or purchase enterprise-grade security tools.
A managed services approach provides access to advanced security technologies and experienced professionals at a fraction of the cost of building internal capabilities. The average salary of an in-house cybersecurity professional is $122,000 per year before implementation costs, but managed cybersecurity sheridan services provide expert protection at a fraction of the cost.
Look for providers who offer proactive monitoring and response capabilities. 24/7 security monitoring ensures instant threat detection and rapid responses, with teams ready to escalate high-priority concerns within 30 minutes. This level of responsiveness can mean the difference between a minor incident and a major breach.
The right managed services provider should also offer comprehensive coverage including network management with proactive monitoring and performance optimization, cybersecurity with multi-layered security solutions including firewalls and intrusion detection systems, and cloud solutions to help you choose the right platform and integrate it seamlessly with existing systems.
Choose a provider with local presence and understanding of your market. We have been a leading provider of IT support and consulting since 1991, focusing on small and medium-sized businesses in central Illinois and Indiana, including Indianapolis, Danville, and surrounding areas like Sheridan.
The cybersecurity threat landscape won’t improve on its own, and waiting increases your risk every day. Cybersecurity will remain a critical issue that demands immediate and ongoing attention, with industry analysts estimating that worldwide cybercrime will cost a staggering $12 trillion in the coming year.
Start with an honest assessment of your current security posture. Only 14% of small businesses say they are prepared to defend themselves against cybersecurity threats. If you’re not in that small group, now is the time to change that.
Your next step should be connecting with cybersecurity professionals who understand small business needs and local market conditions. We have helped hundreds of businesses in the Sheridan area build effective defenses against cyber threats while maintaining the operational efficiency that keeps businesses competitive.
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