Even before COVID hit, small businesses were prime targets of costly cyber attacks. On average, cyber attacks cost small businesses as much as $200,000 in 2019. By the numbers, 28% of small businesses experienced a data breach within the last 12 months, of which 37% suffered a financial loss, 25% filed for bankruptcy, and 10% went out of business. Now, as small businesses rapidly shift their brick-and-mortar shops online to accommodate consumers’ accelerated adoption of e-commerce, they’re even more vulnerable to cyber threats.

To learn more about how small businesses can safely and successfully pivot to digital during COVID and beyond, Create & Cultivate partnered with Mastercard as the presenting sponsor to host an eye-opening cybersecurity workshop led by none other than Ginger Siegel, the North America Small Business Lead at Mastercard, at our recent Future of Work Summit. Below, we’re sharing some of the most valuable takeaways from the information-packed session. If you missed the workshop (or just want a quick refresher course!), scroll on—and be sure to grab a pen because you’re going to want to commit this info to memory!

The Trends Pushing Small Businesses to Go Digital

Trend #1: Contactless Payment

With social distancing evolving into a long-term norm, continued reliance on delivery, pick-up, and alternative points of sale will push small businesses to adopt more versatile payment methods, making the market for contactless payment methods such as tap on phone adoption, says Siegel.

“We already expected to see an increase in contactless spend, but COVID-19 has really accelerated this behavior and made consumer demand shift quicker than anticipated,” she explains. “46% of global consumers have swapped out their top-of-wallet card for one the provides contactless functionality, and about 74% of consumers said they will continue using contactless post-pandemic.”

Trend #2: E-Commerce

As consumers increasingly rely on e-commerce solutions, getting the basics of business operations online will be essential for small businesses’ survival, explains Siegel. According to Mastercard SpendingPulse, e-commerce in April and May made up 22% of all retail sales in the U.S., which is up from 11% in 2019.

Put another way? More money was spent online in the U.S. in the span of two months than the last 12 Cyber Mondays combined. If small businesses don’t keep pace, they may lose the opportunity to meet market demands in the future. “82% of small businesses have actually changed the way they send and receive payments and 51% have been transitioning their clients to digital methods,” notes Siegel.

Trend #3: Digital Services

While online card payments have seen an increase of 60% during the pandemic, the use of cash and checks has decreased by 34% and 24%, respectively, according to a recent survey conducted by Mastercard. “67% of small businesses said that one upside to the pandemic is that it prompted them to upgrade their digital payment solutions,” notes Siegel of the trend.

“Small businesses plan to stick with digital business payments, even as the pandemics subsides,” says Siegel, pointing to increased customer satisfaction as the driving factor behind the shift. About 70% of small businesses say that they're willing to invest in the technology required to advance their payment systems and 73% say digital payments are the new normal for their business going forward, she notes.

The Top Cyber Threats to Small Businesses

As small businesses rely on digital payments to serve their customers and digital means to communicate with employees, cyber threats are becoming more and more prevalent in the small biz community. 43% of cyberattacks are aimed at small businesses, but only 14% are prepared to defend themselves, according to Accenture.

Here are two common types of cyber threats to small businesses:

Threat #1: Ransomware

In this scenario, bad actors gain access to data from a small business and demand a ransom payment in order to return the stolen and now-encrypted data.

Threat #2: Compromised email

In this case, a bad actor gains access to a small business employee’s email account and sends an internal email impersonating the employee making an urgent request for funds to be transferred to them.

The Steps for Getting Started With Cybersecurity

If you don’t know where to start with cybersecurity, you’re not alone. According to Keeper Security, 60% of small business owners do not have a cyberattack prevention plan. “81% of small businesses tell us that they really wish that someone would proactively alert them to changes in the cybersecurity landscape and provide best practices for small business,” explains Siegel.

Which is why Mastercard is developing dedicated cybersecurity solutions and educational resources for small business owners through their Digital Doors center, a curated set of resources to help guide, grow, and protect small businesses during these difficult times as well as through recovery. For more information on navigating COVID-19 as a small business, head to Mastercard.com.

About the Expert: Ginger Siegel is the North America Small Business Lead at Mastercard. Most recently, she was a senior manager in the financial services group in Deloitte where she was a member of the highly ranked payments practice and also focused on fintech and bank partnerships, small business, and commercial banking opportunities in the areas of strategy development, process design, and operation model transformation. She brings 30 years of industry leadership experience as an executive at large multinational and regional banks in the areas of small business, business banking, and retail with a focus on strategy, leading execution, payments, treasury management, SalesForce optimization, branch optimization, and revenue growth. 

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