Hackers are not only looking to steal valuable data from large enterprises. In fact, small and medium businesses (SMBs) are also at high risk of cyberattacks and data breaches. According to the 2023 Hiscox cybersecurity readiness report, 41% of small businesses fell victim to a cyber attack in 2023, a rise from 38% in the 2022 report and close to double the 22% in 2021. Additionally, US small businesses have paid more than $16,000 in cyber ransoms over the past 12 months. When factoring in the ramifications of operational costs, a data breach can bring a small and medium business to its knees.

What can SMBs do?

Sometimes, using cloud services is the easiest option for businesses. If that is the route they choose to take, auditing and questioning the security practices of their cloud provider is a necessary step before hiring that third party. SMBs must also ensure that data stored in the cloud is appropriately encrypted and that the software encryption keys are securely stored and safeguarded.

While the cloud is the most basic level of small business cybersecurity, it does have some vulnerabilities.

First, not all company data needs to be stored in the cloud. Some data may be so valuable that it needs to be controlled on local storage, often disconnected from the Internet. In cyber security terms, this is often called “air-gapped” to mean disconnected from the Internet.

Second, employees often seek access to the cloud when traveling. They frequently connect to WiFi at airports, hotels, and coffee shops—known places where bad actors seek to hack computers, steal data, and deploy malware and ransomware.

The consequences of a data breach are fiscally damaging and have the potential to destroy an SMB overnight. To prevent that worst possible outcome, it’s critical for businesses to have technology in place to protect their data.

Given those risks, air-gapped storage—storage drives that are hardware-encrypted and can be controlled by the employee and kept off the internet—is the strongest form of mobile data cybersecurity. These drives have a built-in security system that is always on, requires proper authentication, and has a self-destruct mechanism to protect against password guessing.

Many businesses have pivoted to storing sensitive information or intellectual property on Ironkey drives. These drives are easy to transport, and SMBs often give or ship them to customers or clients and then provide detailed instructions on how to access that data.

Why Kingston?

Kingston is the world’s leading manufacturer and supplier of IronKey hardware-encrypted USB drives and external SSDs, Vault Privacy 50 Series, Keypad 200, and the Vault Privacy 80 External SSD. With these AES 256-bit hardware-encrypted drives, business owners can be confident that stored data will remain safe from attempted cyber intrusions, even if the physical drive is lost or stolen.

Kingston IronKey has designed its hardware-encrypted drives to be the best tools for maintaining data security without overcomplicating existing internal workflow, insuring against the high cost of data loss.