In recent years, ransomware attacks have targeted big-name enterprises and made headlines more frequently. The risk of this attack is even more significant among small and medium-sized businesses or SMBs, who often struggle to comprehend the evolving nature of the threat and their lack of resources to improve their cyber resilience.

A successful ransomware attack on SMBs poses a greater threat to their business continuity as data recovery may be expensive or outright impossible for them. Despite this highlighting the need for better Singapore cybersecurity services to safeguard data, the growing ransomware attacks on corporations have led to increased resistance among many SMBs that stem from a lack of awareness, biases, and fallacies. Below, we cover the common mistakes SMBs make when tackling the ransomware risk that keeps them vulnerable to attack.

1. Relying on flawed thinking

While many SMBs are naturally concerned about the potential impacts of ransomware, they believe they are unlikely to be attacked because they have ‘nothing of value’ that would attract cyber criminals. These beliefs are common among those who resist implementing better cyber resilience for their organisation. On top of that, they rationalise their inaction and form a false sense of safety. However, such a formal fallacy relies on common beliefs partially informed by cognitive biases.

A closer look at this argument reveals the singular flaw: hackers do not need the data to be worth something to them – they only need it to be valuable to their victims. Therefore, it is logically invalid based on the premise that the business has nothing valuable worth stealing.

The belief that the company is unlikely to experience ransomware can also be a standalone argument. Since this has an unknown premise, it requires data to support probability. But since there is insufficient reporting data on ransomware affecting SMBs, this argument can be problematic and lead to confirmation bias. Essentially, not being able to find data on ransomware attacks on other SMBs leads others to conclude it as confirmation that they are not at risk.

2. Resigning to victimhood

As mentioned earlier, the fact that large enterprises get hit with ransomware all the time may mislead SMBs into thinking they do not stand a chance and that there is nothing they can do about it. The seemingly constant stream of information re-enforcing this mentality makes them feel they have no control.

The frequent successful attacks against ‘prepared’ organisations also develop powerlessness or learned helplessness within the SMB space. After all, if more established and well-funded companies can still be hacked, why should they bother trying?

This perspective takes on a binary view of ransomware and sees such attacks as all-or-nothing events. But the reality is that ransomware attacks have varying degrees of success. By reframing cyber resilience as mitigating the potential damage of a successful attack, SMBs can regain their sense of control in what otherwise feels like an impossible task.

3. Sunk cost fallacy

Some SMBs may spend extensive resources on IT solutions geared toward achieving their business goals that they cannot consider abandoning them at that point. However, cybercriminals seek organisations with IT solutions that are improperly developed, configured, deployed, or maintained, as it is easier for them to infect and compromise such systems.

These solutions make for an ideal access vector for ransomware, given the difficulty of retrofitting security into them. And when an attack occurs, organisations face the costly and disruptive decision of migrating to another platform. Getting to this decision point can be incredibly difficult for SMBs since they will likely fall into a sunk-cost fallacy. This means the tendency to push through with something because of the huge amounts of time, money, and effort invested in it already, regardless of whether the current costs outweigh the benefits.

It is not easy to look back at all the work put into an IT solution and face that a large part of the business’s investment is a sunk cost. The reality is that no matter how much goes into investing in an IT solution, the long-term risk it poses is far greater than any sunk cost if security is not among its core features.

Conclusion

SMBs must overcome a series of biases and logical fallacies to realise that they are at a real risk of falling victim to ransomware. Upon understanding and accepting that reality, it is best to take advantage of their size and agility to bolster their cyber resilience.

Stay ahead of the constant threat of ransomware with the help of GROUP8’s comprehensive and offensive-inspired cyber security services in Singapore. With our renowned industry-leading solutions, including endpoint security, incident response, vulnerability assessment and penetration testing in Singapore, organisations can be equipped with all the essentials to avoid ransomware attacks. Reach out to us at hello@group8.co today to learn more about solutions.