In fact, small businesses can be particularly vulnerable because they lack the cybersecurity resources of larger ones. With the increasing shift to remote and roaming work in 2021, businesses of all sizes are more vulnerable to threats and attacks. Employees work off the network, from the cloud, and with technology and apps that aren’t necessarily sanctioned (or protected) by IT staff; these attacks do real damage, with small businesses spending an average of R15M per attack to restore normal operations, according to Cisco’s latest security outcomes report.

“Fifty four percent of small businesses think they’re too small for a cyberattack, but the reality is that 43% of all attacks target small businesses,” says Garsen Naidu, general manager for Cisco sub-Saharan Africa. “Even more worrying is that 47% of small businesses surveyed say they have no understanding of how to protect themselves against cyberattacks.”

For the small business owner who is potentially overwhelmed by the idea of having to manage complex cybersecurity protection on top of running a business, while knowing it is time to upgrade his/her security technology to something stronger, Cisco’s Umbrella can fill in the gaps for small business cybersecurity teams.

“A single unified security service, Cisco Umbrella reduces the complexity of monitoring and managing threats and alerts, so your team can do more with less,” says Naidu. “Plus, Umbrella provides the extra support you need to make the most of your solution and fewer infections overall mean less remediation time, less downtime, and fewer of the costs associated with each.”

Umbrella converges DNS layer security, secure web gateway, CDFW, cloud access security broker (CASB) and interactive threat intel, which is powered by Talos, the largest privately owned threat intelligence agency globally. All these services can be consumed via the cloud, promoting a SASE architecture that also seamlessly secures SDWAN deployments.

Cisco has released a Small Businesses Deserve Big Protection guide to learn how to get enterprise-grade security on a small business budget, with:

• Effective threat protection
• Visibility and protection for all devices, on and off the network
• Simple management and flexible policies
• Rapid deployment and quick time to value

“For small businesses, threats are never going to stop coming. But with simple deployment and powerful protection, visibility and performance, Cisco Umbrella can provide the big win they need,” Naidu concludes.