Middle-market businesses were a frequent target for cyber criminals last year, with 28 percent of middle-market executives saying their company experienced a data breach in 2020, according to RSM's new 2021 Cybersecurity Special Report.
According to the firm, the middle market is such a frequent target because companies that size are large enough to have valuable data stores but may not have the kind of robust cybersecurity or personnel in place to thwart would-be bad actors like most larger companies do. The move to remote work, and away from highly secure corporate networks to home networks, presented another potential vulnerability to be exploited by hackers.
That 28 percent figure is the highest recorded since RSM began tracking data in 2015, and represents a 10 percent jump from 2019. According to the report, 42 percent of executives at larger middle-market companies reported a breach in 2020, compared to just 16 percent of their smaller counterparts.
