As an SME we dream about huge Fortune 500 clients. But is our cyber security on par with their standards to close a deal?

More than CIA Risks
We all know the risks that are involved with cyber security and the business impact this can have. But in addition to risks like ransomware, IP theft and personal data leakage there is a risk for small and medium sized companies that does not fall into the CIA (confidentiality, integrity, availability) bucket. We see more and more that large companies demand for proper cyber security in B2B deals with small and medium sized business. Mature cyber security controls are demanded by business partners and B2B clients as condition to close a deal. The risk of losing serious business opportunities because of insecure infrastructures, databases and web applications becomes an important factor in the value chain of information. Business partners and large potential clients know their risks and want their counterpart, also if it is a small or medium sized company, to comply with their cyber security standards and maturity.

Weakest link
The reason for this demand is quite simple. The weakest link of the chain may shift to a third party when sharing information or collaborating through an out-sourced platform. The risk does not decrease when a partner is a small sized firm but it opens up the same security risks that they need to manage. To address this risk SMEs need to proof that they manage cyber security effectively. This includes providing documented policies, procedures and show evidence of security implementations to their potential client or business partner.

For SMEs this may not fit into their short term strategy (or budget) to deliver value as a result of their core business but in the long run it will pay off. It levels up your cyber security maturity level so you can start doing business with the giants of this planet. Cyber security can be a dealbreaker if you ask them, so we better show them that their data is safe.

Categories: Cyber Security