Hello, small business owners! Do you think that, because you’re small, no one’s ever going to hack your site?

Think again. The reality is that your small size makes you even more likely to be attacked.

According to a recent report by Symantec (the company behind Norton Anti-Virus and other security products), targeted attacks rose by 42% in 2012. A targeted attack is a cyber attack specifically crafted for its individual victim site.

As part of this surge, one in three targeted attacks was aimed at a small business – those with fewer than 250 employees. This is an increase of 300% compared with 2011.

Why the sudden interest in small businesses? Aren’t cyber attacks traditionally aimed at big, powerful groups where they can really do some damage?

In the past that has been the case. Big business, governments, etc. certainly have a lot to lose if they’re infiltrated by no-goodniks. They also, however, have the resources to defend themselves.

What the Symantec report shows is that hackers are getting wise to the fact that small businesses offer the path of least resistance. Because they are small, they don’t usually have a lot invested in protection. This makes their sites much easier to hack into and exploit. If you’re a tiny little mom-and-pop with an e-commerce site offering a handful of products, you’re an ideal victim.

What you’re NOT is too small to be noticed.

Many of you marketers out there will be familiar with the concept of the long tail. Selling small volumes of a lot of items to a lot of customers gives you serious profits. The same principle applies to hacking Web sites. Go after a lot of little guys with poor security, and the stolen data will quickly add up, much faster than spending all your time assaulting impregnable Big sites.

The big boys with tight security are on the left in green, while the small fish with poor security are on the left in yellow. The areas of the green and yellow sections are identical.

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Now that we’ve established that small sites are every bit as visible and vulnerable as bigger sites, we’ll spend next week looking at three specific things hackers are looking to accomplish, as well as ways to defend yourself. You may not be too small to be targeted, but you’re also not too small to fight back.

Photo Credit: bk1bennett via Compfight cc