Over 80% of US Small Businesses Have Been Breached

According to a recent report from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), growing number of US small businesses are taking preventative security measures, despite the share suffering a data or security breach surging to 81% last year.

The non-profit collated publicly reported breaches and information from victims who got in touch to compile its annual Consumer & Business Impact Report.

It revealed that the share of organizations with fewer than 500 employees that suffered a data or security breach in the past year increased eight percentage points annually.

Average financial losses also more than doubled annually to $500,000, the report claimed.

On the plus side, 80% of small businesses are taking steps to prevent future breaches, including :

• Providing staff training (88%)
• Investing in security tools (65%)
• Increasing their security budget (67%).