Why Do Businesses Have Such a Hard Time Identifying Threats?

Why Do Businesses Have Such a Hard Time Identifying Threats?

Cybersecurity is intensely important, so a business owner would think implementing every security feature and defense would be a good idea. However, as research has shown, this can be counterproductive, as only 67% of surveyed security leaders know what led to cybersecurity incidents in their businesses over the past year. 

Let’s explore why security breaches often go unnoticed by the businesses they impact.

First Off, Breaches Can Be Hard to Notice

While one might assume that a cybersecurity issue inside their organization would be obvious, this is far from the truth. IBM reports that breaches take an average of 207 days to identify… and that’s not even counting the time it takes to discover the root cause.

It also doesn’t help that many attacks are explicitly designed to keep a low profile. Plus, many attacks now use the inherent vulnerabilities of remote operations and the Internet of Things to their advantage. These stealthier attacks can go unnoticed and obfuscate themselves amongst existing data, becoming even more challenging to find.

Second, Many Businesses Have Challenges Making the Required Investments

Many small and medium-sized businesses have tight budgets, making it more difficult for them to make the investments that modern cybersecurity standards require. Furthermore, when security issues arise, identifying the root cause is often neglected in favor of fixing the problem, so investments can frequently not be made to eliminate the risks.

Third, Many Businesses Don’t Have the IT (or Plan) Needed to Protect Themselves

Modern businesses need both the tools to detect threats proactively and the strategy to respond to them. Without the former, breaches will be far more likely to take root, and without the latter, a business will lack the means to bounce back efficiently once the threat is resolved. Either scenario (and commonly both) will hold a business back.

White Mountain IT Services is here to help New Hampshire businesses attend to their security so these kinds of breaches can be prevented. Learn more about what we can do by giving us a call at (603) 889-0800.

White Mountain IT

Related Posts

Have You Ever Considered What a Ransomware Attack Actually Does to Your Business?

Last week, we discussed the many impacts your business suffering from ransomware has on “second-order harm,” downstream businesses, and average, ordinary people. This time, we wanted to return to “first-order harms”… those the impacted business has to deal with itself. Obviously, the First Place Ransomware Hurts is the Business When we last discussed the impacts of ransomware, we skipped over ...

5 Critical POS Challenges Businesses Face in 2026

Working in IT, we see the behind-the-scenes of dozens of businesses. To many, a Point of Sale (POS) system is often viewed as just a digital cash register. It’s actually the central nervous system of a modern business. When it works, it is invisible; when it fails, the entire operation grinds to a halt. As we move through 2026, the complexity of these systems has reached an all-time high. Here are...

Cybercriminals Can Use AI to Their Advantage, Too… Watch Out for Prompt Hacking Attacks

Did you know that during World War II, Allied codebreakers didn't just crack the German Enigma code with pure math? They also used clever tricks, like baiting the Germans into sending predictable messages, to expose the machine's inner workings. History proves this approach worked then, and (unfortunately) continues to work now. This art of manipulating a system to reveal its secrets has found a ...

A Man-in-the-Middle Attack is Not to Be Underestimated

Have you ever heard of the “man-in-the-middle” attack or MitM? It’s a situation where your data is stolen by an onlooker who situates themselves in the right place at the right time. Data interception is a very real thing that your business should be prepared to fight against. Let’s discuss some strategies you can use to counter these sneaky attacks. How a Man-in-the-Middle Attack Works For a ...