A data breach investigations report from Verizon released Tuesday, showed that small businesses continue to be the most victimized of all companies. Despite the statistics, too many small businesses think they're invulnerable. Some believe their small business would be a boring target for hackers.–CNN Money Parija Kavilanz April 23, 2013
(About the Verizon report) The report shows that no matter the size of the organization — large, small, government agencies, banks, restaurants, retailers — people are stealing data from a range of different organizations and it’s a problem everyone has to deal with.– Bits blog nytimes.com Nicole Perlroth April 22, 2013
The (SC) Small Business Chamber of Commerce doesn't feel there's a huge target on small businesses. "The thieves are going where most of this information is; the Department of Revenue, large organizations have great caches of information. We're nickel and dime. Small businesses are nickel and dime to these thieves", said Frank Knapp with the (SC) Small Business Chamber of Commerce.–WISTV News Jennifer Emert May 14, 2013
Why should a small business worry about a data breach? After all, many owners think computer hackers and identity thieves only target big corporations. In fact, most small businesses in the USA already have been exposed, or likely will be soon.–USA Today Eric Cernak May 6, 2013
Targeted cyber attacks against small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) have more than doubled, jumping from 18 percent in 2011 to 36 percent in 2012.–Fox Business Ned Smith October 17, 2012
A Ponemon Institute survey (polled more than 1,200 U.S. businesses) found that 55 percent of small businesses had a data breach and 53 percent of those businesses had multiple breaches. Yet, surprisingly, only 33 percent of the businesses notified the people affected.–USA Today Eric Cernak May 6, 2013
Small businesses retain very valuable information for hackers, like customers' credit card numbers, intellectual property, and money in the bank. Small companies are lucrative victims, too. That's making the target on their back even bigger.–CNN Money Vikram Thakur April 23, 2013
When it comes to disclosure, a lot of them think, ‘We’re so small, no one’s going to know.’ They’ll say: ’Let’s just sweep this under the rug. We’re not going to report it because no one’s going to find out about it.–Bloomberg Businessweek Eric Cernak March 5, 2013
The Privacy Compliance Association (PCA) is a non-profit, consumer advocate. We believe public and private organizations must do a better job moving forward to protect citizen, client and employee private records.
Vision — a safer global environment for individuals’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
Mission — to alert the public which institutions properly secure private data by:
- Assessing institutions for federal and state privacy law compliance.
- Certifying establishments that pass an independent, on-site audit.
- Promoting these qualifying businesses to the public.
The Privacy Compliance Association supports certified organizations who adhere to privacy guidelines and implement best practices as technology changes. PCA certified organizations enjoy a competitive advantage in their respective markets.
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business’ SHOP CERTIFIED™ status.
