Small businesses and data security

Though it may be improbable to deem that small businesses are the engines that drive America, it’s a true verity in spite of the recognition of large franchise chains across the United States. It is prevalently understood that small businesses are least likely to be affected by data breaches because it’s a waste of time for hackers, since the likelihood of finding substantial data is low. Unquestionably, this fact carries some weight as statistics are there to back-up such claims. Even so, undersized industries are at an increased risk of data theft from their own human resources. Surveys reveal that preponderance of the small business owners are utterly uneducated on data security and blindly trust their workers with key company data. Small Businesses that concentrate in the servicing industry are most at risk according to experts. To give you a better idea of how employees can pilfer company’s undisclosed data, the following hypothetical examples are provided: A Souse Chef working in the restaurant industry reveals secret recipes to competitors in exchange for better employment prospects or a large sum of money. A foreman working in a small machine shop may disclose the names and addresses of key customers, giving competitors a shot at offering them better prices and services. A CFO may reveal private financial information to competitors which may reveal secret cost cutting strategies. These are some of the incidents that small businesses are likely to face as company data become more accessible and useful.

To add insult to injury, most small companies are sole proprietorships, meaning that if the company were to go out of business, the owner would be most likely be affected by the unfortunate event. Therefore, data security in small businesses should be treated differently than it would be treated in publicly held companies. On a different note, small businesses are most likely to come out with innovative ideas than large businesses, as there are evidences that show small businesses that have come out with better, more innovative inventions. Data related to such innovations is always at risk of being stolen. How so, you may ask? Simply imagine: You own a small company which designs and manufactures innovative marine recreational vehicles, an idea of your own, you don’t want anyone discovering the schematics and manufacturing secrets of these marine vehicles, although, you did nothing to protect this data on your PC. One day while you are out sick at home, one of your employees decides to steal the digital blueprints to your marine crafts. He secretly emails the digital blueprints to large company for it to be mass produced, in exchange; he receives a handsome reward for his contribution. Few months later, you get the news that a large company is mass producing recreational marine crafts similar to yours and you end up going out of business, since that manufacturer is able to produce it at a lower cost and then pass those low costs onto the end customers. Had you protected your blueprint data with Folder protecting software, for example with Folder Protect, you wouldn’t be at risk of losing such data to immoral employees.