SMALL BUSINESS WOES AND SMALL BUSINESS WINS

The recent ransomware attack on software group Kaseya hit small businesses especially hard, targeting companies that often have few resources to defend themselves and highlighting long-standing vulnerabilities.

The attack has been made worse during the pandemic when cyber threats against small businesses have multiplied, and companies have scrambled to stay afloat.

“When large businesses aren’t doing the basics it’s negligence,” Kiersten Todt, managing director of the Cyber Readiness Institute, told The Hill.

“When small businesses aren’t doing the basics, it’s often because they don’t have the resources, or the knowledge, or the education,” Todt added.

 

…AND SMALL BUSINESS WINS: Small businesses are leveraging popular trends on TikTok to build their brands and gain global followings.

Unlike its older social media peers, popular content on TikTok tends to be more stripped down which can give small businesses a leg up, said Eric Dahan, co-founder and CEO of influencer marketing agency Open Influence.

“People crave that raw, behind-the-scenes experience, they crave authenticity. So businesses are able to build a much more human connection,” Dahan said.

“That’s an advantage [small businesses] have, where they get rewarded for having a more human voice. For the big companies it’s much more of a challenge for them to do that,” he said.