Cybersecurity for Small Business Pilot Program

In 2021, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 847,376 complaints regarding cyberattacks and malicious cyber activity with nearly $7 billion in losses, the majority of which targeted small businesses. Small businesses are attractive targets because they have information that cybercriminals want, and they typically lack the security infrastructure of larger businesses. According to a recent SBA survey, 88% of small business owners felt their business was vulnerable to a cyber-attack. Yet many businesses can’t afford professional IT solutions, have limited time to devote to cybersecurity, or they don’t know where to begin. The Consolidated Appropriations Acts, 2022 and 2023, authorized the U.S. Small Business Administration to make grants to States, and the equivalent thereof, to carry out projects that help new small business concerns with tools to combat cybersecurity threats during their formative and most vulnerable years.