The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) has published a study into data security and the costs of cyber attack for the SMB sector. The report highlights the rise in in attacks against small businesses, and the associated costs of a data breach.

Over the last 12 months, cyber attacks against the SMB market have increased by 10%, with 87% of small businesses stating they’ve had a breach, costing then 3 – 5 days of business disruption and an associated bill of up to £65,000 once lost business and the cost of rectifying the breach are included.

Business owners and IT managers need to protect their companies from attack. On-site security is one part of the protection, however storing data off-site is also part of the solution. An on-site cyber attacker cannot easily steal data if the information is being stored elsewhere, especially when your valuable business information is being protected in secure data centres with automatic back-ups.

The infographic below illustrates the main findings in the BIS report, showing the potential costs for both small and large organisations.