Cybersecurity Awareness: More Than Just Pumpkin Spice Season

Every October rolls in with two things: Cybersecurity Awareness Month and pumpkin spice everything. One makes you feel warm and cozy. The other can burn your business down if you ignore it.

Here’s a fact that should make every owner stop and think. Hiscox research has stated that 80 percent of small and midsize businesses have never conducted a cybersecurity assessment. That means most owners have stopped listening to the warnings and what works to protect the single largest investment they’ve ever made, their business. Imagine if 8 out of 10 drivers never checked their brakes. Would you want to be on the freeway with them? That’s the reality we’re living in.

NCX Group The Research Shows.

The numbers today are sobering. Over 62 percent of SMEs report cyberattacks each year. Ransomware and BEC attacks jumped 73 percent in the past 12 months, fueled by AI. When they hit, the average downtime is 22 to 24 days, with an average cost of $5.6 million. Add to that the long tail: 10 to 30 percent of business valuation eroded after a major incident, and M&A deals are delayed 12 to 36 months because of cyber due diligence issues. These are not “IT problems.” They are survival problems.

Here’s where too many companies get it wrong. They think a shiny new piece of tech will save them. Buy a bigger firewall, add another tool, problem solved. But cybersecurity has never been just an IT issue. It’s a business process and a business risk problem. For 24 years, I’ve been saying the same thing: people, process, and technology all matter, but unless you treat cyber as a core part of how you run the business, you’re just patching holes in a sinking boat.

At NCX Group, our philosophy is simple. First, be brilliant at the ordinary. Patch the systems. Train your people. Back up your data. Second, cybersecurity isn’t about what you think; it’s about what you can prove. If you can’t prove you’ve done the basics, don’t expect an insurer, a regulator, or a buyer to take your word for it.

That’s why awareness training is the cornerstone. We recommend micro-learning — short three-to-five-minute lessons with a quick test to educate and evaluate. It works, it sticks, and it carries over at home. I’ve seen employees teach their kids how to avoid scams because of what they learned at work. And yes, you can do it while sipping on a pumpkin spice latte.

This October, start with a clear picture of your risk. NCX Group is offering a free cybersecurity audit. It’s quick, it’s practical, and it shows you where you stand. Take the first step here: https://training.ncxgroup.com/audit.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month is your chance to act. Protect your people. Protect your future. Pumpkin spice season ends in November. Cyber risk doesn’t.

P.S. Cybersecurity isn’t an expense. It’s protection for your business, your people, and your family.

By Mike Fitzpatrick, Founder & CEO, NCX Group 🌐 www.ncxgroup.com LinkedIn: NCX Group | Mike Fitzpatrick X (Twitter): @ncxgroup | @ncxceo