Cyberattacks have become an ever-present threat to businesses of all sizes, and small businesses are particularly vulnerable. Understanding why this is the case and how to defend against these attacks is crucial for any small business owner.

Let’s start with a few primary reasons why small businesses are targets.

If your organization has experienced a ransomware attack recently, you have plenty of company. If not, then count yourself lucky.

Eighty-five percent of organizations suffered at least one ransomware attack in the past 12 months, according to the 2023 Veeam Ransomware Trends Report—and more companies will have a ransomware attack this year than turn a profit. Ransomware attacks can be damaging to your bottom line, your customers and your reputation. And the criminals who perpetrate these attacks know that.

Cyberattacks are increasing in frequency around the world—and the problem is even worse in the U.S., where incidents jumped 57 percent year-over-year in 2022. Finance, insurance, manufacturing and professional service providers are among the most-targeted industries, but regardless, the outlook is clear: No business can afford the potential losses caused by a breach in their network or other protected assets.

The opening of a new office building isn’t typically cause for much fanfare outside of a ceremonial red ribbon and an oversized pair of scissors. But C Spire’s smart new headquarters in Birmingham, Ala., is anything but typical.

On the contrary, the new C Spire future-proof workspace in Birmingham is one of only a few places in the U.S. where team members, partners and prospective clients can experience the power of Cisco’s latest technologies in action.

While cybersecurity remains top of mind for healthcare professionals, the industry lacks some readiness to deal with threats in several areas, according to a 2024 Cisco study.

The healthcare industry and its patients have benefited greatly from the Healthcare Internet of Things (IoT), the wide-ranging collection of medical gadgets that can connect to a network and help improve patient care in real time.

Every day, millions of these medical devices connect to hospital networks, where they generate, transfer and store protected health information (PHI) as well as data from other electronic health records (EHR), clinical workstations and smart hospital applications.