Blog

Do You Know How Much You Should Be Spending on Cybersecurity?

Do You Know How Much You Should Be Spending on Cybersecurity?

Nowadays, you can’t afford not to have some portion of your business’ budget set aside for cybersecurity. The question is, how much do you need, and what should you be spending it on first? Let’s take a few moments to dig a little deeper into this question and examine a few cybersecurity protections you should establish as your business’ baseline defenses.

How Much Should I Spend On My Business’ Cybersecurity?

If you were hoping to get a set dollar amount, I’m sorry to disappoint you.

Generally speaking, small and medium-sized businesses spend an average of anywhere from 5% to 20% of their entire information technology budget on their cybersecurity, with the average IT budget hovering around 4% of their overall budget.

So, if ACME Co. had an annual budget of $1,000,000, it would be reasonable to expect their IT budget to be around $40,000, with anywhere from $2000 to $8000 of that being dedicated specifically to cybersecurity each year.

Hopefully, this helps you to gauge where your investment into your cybersecurity is.

How to Spend Your Cybersecurity Budget Effectively

As the authority on business technology in New Hampshire, we’ve had plenty of experience in assisting companies manage their cybersecurity protections. It’s from this perspective that we suggest these three cybersecurity investments come first for businesses:

1. Staff Training

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that your employees and team members are always going to be one of your biggest vulnerabilities, as they are always going to be easier to fool than it is to hack into a computer. Whether it’s someone using “PASSWORD123_” as their login credential of choice or being fooled into providing access to your company’s data, many modern cyberattacks can tie their source to someone in the affected organization making a mistake.

Taking the time to teach your team about the risks your business is under and the cyberattacks that they’ll directly face is one of the most valuable things you’ll do to protect your organization. Make sure that this education is an ongoing one, with regular updates, refreshers, and evaluations.

2. A Security Audit

You also want to know where your biggest vulnerabilities are, simply so you know which issues are most pressing for you to improve. You might have a piece of software that’s missing a critical security update. Maybe one of your team was accidentally granted far greater permissions than their role calls for. A security audit can help identify these issues and incongruencies so they can be resolved and give you insight into where you need to focus your efforts next.

3. An All-Inclusive Cybersecurity Platform

Finally, you need to at least have the fundamental cybersecurity tools that will help eliminate most of the potential threats you would otherwise encounter. As cybercriminals have come up against improving security measures, they have had to become more enterprising in response…and as a result, your protections need to respond in kind.

Today, platforms exist that offer businesses a collection of tools and services that can be considered essential cybersecurity defense measures. The hard truth is that today’s businesses need antivirus and firewalls, they need the means for remote employees to securely access data on the company’s server, and they need to ensure that only those who need access to certain data have it. Modern platforms can cover all this, providing businesses with these firewalls and antivirus programs, virtual private networking, access controls, and more.

Mind you, we aren’t saying this is all your business needs. This is simply the baseline that we recommend you start from—the bare minimum.

White Mountain IT Services can not only help ensure these protections are properly implemented, we can help you expand your protections as you are able to optimally protect your business and its interests, at a rate that your budget can sustain. Give us a call at 603-889-0800 to learn more.

Related Posts

With technological advancements, challenges arise, and technical issues inevitably occur. This is where an IT help desk comes into play. Let’s explore how an IT help desk operates and why it is a valuable asset for any business.

When a business strikes a deal, there is usually some sort of paper trail or contract involved to hold both parties involved accountable. However, the traditional method of managing paper documents is both time-consuming and wasteful. With eSignature...
Professional sports has witnessed a significant shift in the way teams and organizations approach their strategies. Gone are the days when gut instinct and intuition were the sole driving forces behind decisions. Nowadays, sports are increasingly rel...
In order for a business to stay competitive, they need to efficiently meet demand. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done and there are potential problems at every level that have to be accounted for one way or another. The best way to go about...
Today’s technology can be used to help optimize and elevate just about any of your business’ processes, including your sales processes. Let’s run through a few examples of how your sales team could (and really should) be using tech to their advantage...
The United States Federal Trade Commission’s mandate is to prevent fraud and promote consumer protection in today's interconnected world, where the digital landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace. The FTC recognizes the importance of safeguardi...
For a business to be successful, you need to stay on point. From managing projects to enhancing communication and automating tasks, technology has become an indispensable asset for businesses of all sizes. Let’s look at some of the best tools to help...
Having an efficient and reliable point of sale (POS) system is essential for any retail or hospitality establishment. A robust POS system offers numerous benefits that can streamline the operations of the business and enhance customer and worker expe...
While one of the big selling points of the cloud has always been how cost-effective it can be, it is important to remember that this isn’t always the case. There are situations where the value that a business gets from the cloud isn’t really worth th...
With the release of the 2023 edition of their annual Work Trend Index report, dedicated to exploring the topic of Will AI Fix Work?, Microsoft took a deep dive into the impact that artificial intelligence will have on the workplace in the future. Thi...
We discuss phishing often on this blog, and one method that often flies under the radar is smishing, or phishing that is conducted through SMS messages. Although email phishing is perhaps the most common method of conducting these scams, you should a...
It’s undeniable that software makes a business run. You need applications that support everything that you do, including managing schedules, time, and payroll, producing the work, and selling it to others. For this reason, software is an integral par...

Onsite Service Coverage Area

Although we provide remote services and support to businesses in over 20 states, onsite services are limited to within reasonable driving distance from our offices in NH.  We will manage a local vendor for locations outside of our service area to provide onsite assistance when needed.

 

Onsite Computer Support Services are available to businesses within 60 miles of Nashua New Hampshire. We have excellent onsite coverage from Concord NH, south through Manchester NH, and then down into Boston. From Northern and Central Mass, we cover from Worcester, east to the North Shore, including the Salem NH and Portsmouth NH area.

White Mountain IT Services

 


33 Main St, Suite 302
Nashua, NH 03064

 


121 Riverfront Drive
Manchester, NH 03102

 

Client Help Desk      603-889-2210

New Client Inquiries   603-889-0800

Open Positions