Microsoft, Toyota, Nvidia — cyberattacks on big corporations dominated news headlines this year. But titans of industry aren’t cybercriminals’ biggest target.

Small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are bearing the brunt of the cybercrime epidemic. In fact, our recent survey showed that 58% of CISOs of small security teams feel they are more at risk of attack than larger enterprises. It’s not just lone bad actors or cybercrime syndicates either; entire countries (North Korea and Russia) are cashing in too.

Cybersecurity teams are tasked with their companies’ survival, but they’ve got their own set of challenges…

What smaller cybersecurity teams are up against

There’s a reason cybercriminals go after smaller companies: they’re easy targets.

Here’s why.

Cybersecurity skills shortage

Even if SMEs had the budget to put more boots on the ground — they likely couldn’t find them. The Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) reports that nearly 60% of companies can’t get find enough cybersecurity pros to fill cloud security, security analysis and investigations, and application security positions.

Limited staff

Protecting the entire organization’s data and systems from the constant onslaught of cyber threats usually falls on the shoulders of just five or fewer individuals. Forget about alert overload for a moment. In many cases, these companies don’t even have eyes on alerts around the clock. In an industry where every second counts – this can spell bad news.

Tech overwhelm

Lots of separate security tools are great for security — unless you’re on a small team. The struggle to learn, integrate, and maintain ALL the capabilities is real for SME security professionals.

Perhaps that’s why our survey showed it took them 18 months, on average, just to get their endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools up and running. And adding more tech, no matter how excellent the product, is counterproductive when you don’t have capacity to manage it all.

Security gaps

Even with tech that can improve visibility across your environment, you need to make sure there is someone preventing attackers from slipping through the cracks. Overburdened security teams are increasingly ignoring alerts, leaving their organizations vulnerable to attacks.

Supercharge your security team with Forrester insights

What’s the best way to beat cybercriminals when you’re on a tight budget? Call in the country’s biggest technology problem solvers: Forrester analysts. And that’s exactly what we did.

Our webinar, “XDR is the perfect solution for SMEs,” featured Forrester’s Senior Analyst, Allie Mellen. Allie will join George Tubin, our Director of Product Strategy, for a live chat on August 30th.

In just 60 minutes, you’ll discover how XDR can supercharge resource drained security teams (including yours).

Miss the conversation? No worries. You can watch it on-demand here.