By: Media Sonar

In the past year, 61% of small and mid-market organizations have had at least one cyber incident. Despite this, it’s repeatedly discussed how these organizations assume they are not a target. Throughout this article, we cover four ways that mid-market organizations differ from large enterprises regarding the frequency, impact, and management of data breaches.

1. Mid-market organizations are more likely to experience a data breach. 

Organizations with less than 1,000 employees are 63% more likely to experience a data breach than larger organizations. While bad actors were formerly inclined to target enterprises, today’s threat actors are more focused on the ease of opportunity than the potential dollar value. They recognize that mid-market organizations house precious information and often have fewer defenses and security measures than their enterprise counterparts. 

2. Data breaches are more expensive for mid-market organizations (relatively speaking).

A single data breach costs small and mid-market organizations an average of $108,000. While the dollar value of enterprise breaches is higher at $1.41 million, the damage inflicted on mid-market organizations has more of a relative impact. In fact, 60% of small and mid-market organizations go out of business entirely within six months of experiencing a breach. 

3. The cybersecurity solution space is enterprise-focused.

Many mid-market organizations recognize the importance of a strong security posture. However, the solution provider space of traditional cyber risk management is enterprise-focused, has higher price tags, and serves a target customer with mature security teams. While mid-market organizations are big enough to need these robust technologies, finding talent that can make complex software work properly is expensive and hard to come by. 

4. Mid-market organizations outsource their security.

Large enterprises have cybersecurity strategies created and executed by sophisticated security teams with substantial budgets. This gives them the luxury of taking on multiple projects simultaneously. In contrast, mid-market organizations can typically only focus on one new cybersecurity initiative at a time (if they’re lucky). Many mid-market organizations recognize that today’s threat landscape requires more attention than can be provided in-house and outsource their security to Managed Service Providers (MSPs). This is an opportunity for MSPs to grow their business by helping these organizations identify gaps, decrease risk and demonstrate the return on investment of security initiatives.

Moving Towards a Cyber-Resilient Future

Cybersecurity will become even more relevant for mid-market organizations as they continue to expand their digital footprints to keep up with enterprise competitors. MSPs serving these organizations must take a layered approach to their overall cybersecurity strategy. In addition to firewalls and endpoints, MSPs must go beyond the traditional network perimeter to identify indicators of data breaches and remediate their clients’ exposures.

Media Sonar Digital Risk Assessments (DRAs) are an easy-to-implement solution for MSPs looking to add an extra layer to their security offerings. We provide MSPs with a report of identified vulnerabilities, scored risks, and remediation recommendations. We do this by combining the expertise of in-house analysts with the capabilities of our Web Intelligence platform.

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Media Sonar Digital Risk Assessments provide organizations with an analyst-generated report that identifies and summarizes digital risks and exposed online information, scores risk, and provides remediation recommendations.

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