NordPass and NordStellar, developed by NordVPN, one of the best VPNs, have found that small private companies are the most attractive to hackers.1 Its analysis found that small, private and retail companies in the United States become go-to targets for cybercriminals.

Over the past 2 years, nearly 2,000 global data breach incidents have been analyzed to extract insights into which companies are most likely to experience cyber security breaches. Companies were ranked based on possible violations, depending on industry, size, type of company and country of registration.

Most breaches occurred in the retail sector (95 cases), followed by technology (56 cases) and business services (51 cases). While industries and companies are not affected by the breach, the data shows that private companies are significantly more targeted than any other company. Of the 2,000 data breaches analyzed, about 1,600 involved private companies.

"Small retail companies are very attractive, but other profiles are not so attractive to hackers," says Karolis Arbaciauskas, head of business development at Nordpass. "This analysis helped explain which companies are facing higher risks and what measures can be taken to avoid them," he said."

Specific technology-related areas, including Internet and web services, IT services and consulting, software development, and computer hardware development, are all included in the top 10 covered industries. Arbaciauskas thinks this is surprising given that many people think that these industries are well equipped to prevent infringement. However, technology companies are seen by hackers as attractive targets, and even if the company is well equipped, human mistakes can occur. Therefore, companies need to carefully assess their readiness for cyber security.

No country is immune to cyberattacks, but of course, larger countries are in the limelight, giving hackers greater opportunities to target them. Nearly 4 in 1 of the companies covered were based in the US (489), with India (114) and the UK (73) accounting for the top 3.

Hackers prefer small business (Smb). The overwhelming majority of the companies targeted were 51-200 employees, and Arbaciauskas believes that small businesses may have underestimated their value to hackers.

"There are targeted attacks, but hackers often go to a much wider range of activities, such as credential surfing, dictionaries, or rainbow attacks that don't select victims," Arbaciauskas says. "Because of an employee's reused poor password, or downloaded malware, company credentials can appear in a database of leaked credentials, which can be compromised by hackers. For small businesses, a data breach is a risk of business closure, and financial costs and reputational damage can have a significant aftermath impact."According to a recent IBM report, the average cost of a data breach in 2024 is nearly5500 million, causing serious damage to a company's reputation. Therefore, it is essential that organizations do everything they can to minimize the risk of cyber security attacks and protect their business and customer data.

But what measures can be taken to minimize risk? Companies can incorporate some of the best business VPNs into their work practices, and there are several reasons why they need to use VPNs at work.

A Vpn is a security tool that encrypts your device's data when you use the Internet. Encryption is essential for anyone looking to enhance their digital privacy and protect their data online. A VPN adds a layer of security to a company, its employees, and its data. It acts as a shield against cyber attacks because hackers can't see your data or information.

While prices vary, VPNs are a cost-effective way to enhance the security of your business, reducing the need to invest in a lot of hardware and technical support. Business VPNs are often designed with multiple team members in mind, using cloud-based systems.This means that all employees have access to the same encrypted data and files. Perimeter81, our top recommended business VPN, comes with many features and can cover multiple team members. But with a minimum of88 per team member, it's not the cheapest one out there.

They are also very useful for remote workers. With changes in working habits after the pandemic, more workers than ever have come to work remotely, either part-time or full-time. With a VPN, employees can access the company's network and resources from anywhere in the world.This means that employees can remain flexible without compromising the security of the company.

If remote workers enjoy working in public spaces such as libraries or coffee shops, they may be connected to public Wi-Fi. This can be dangerous because hackers can easily steal data from unprotected users of these networks. When you use a VPN to connect to a public wifi, the attack becomes useless because hackers can't see what you're doing and your personal information remains secure.

VPNs have the potential to protect companies and employees from phishing attacks, and there are many of the safest VPNs, including anti-phishing protection. These are looking to enter your personal information and trick you into allowing hackers access to your data, suspicious spam emails and text messages

VPNs are not the only way to protect you and your business from the threat of cyber attacks. Tools such as the best password manager allow you to generate and store complex and unique passwords, making them difficult to guess and access, and as a result weak or reuse of day passwords is a common cause of cyber attacks, and strong passwords are the first line of defense against hackers.

Cybersecurity audits are a way to help identify weaknesses in a company's IT infrastructure. By conducting independent third-party audits, companies can prepare resilience and defense strategies against hackers and build a reputation as a secure company that protects customers and business data.

Finally, an easy way to counter cyberattacks is through education and awareness. Human error is a massive cause of data breaches. Employees may use weak passwords, fall into phishing scams, or use unprotected networks. Investing in employee awareness and cybersecurity training is an important tool to protect your business. You can have all the protection in the world, but if you or one of your employees is willing to provide sensitive information, a Vpn or password manager can do almost nothing to prevent a data breach.