Small to mid-size business cybersecurity solutions

The problem with small business cybersecurity

For a long time, cybersecurity for small to mid-sized businesses was difficult to achieve. This situation existed because of two main obstacles:

Firstly, there was (and still is) a worldwide cybersecurity skills gap. Scarcity of talent priced many smaller businesses out of the expertise needed to maintain effective cybersecurity.

Secondly, while automated business cybersecurity software did exist, it was unjustifiably expensive. The majority of small and medium-sized businesses simply couldn't bear the costs associated with these - often mediocre - products.

PortSwigger cybersecurity software empowers SMEs

PortSwigger is a leader in cybersecurity software. With over 40,000 users in more than 130 countries, Burp Suite Professional has been the penetration testing industry's go-to toolkit for well over a decade.

Burp Suite Pro is aimed at professional testers. And with a worldwide cybersecurity crisis looming, our industry was due a shakeup. That's why we created Burp Suite Enterprise Edition. This fully automated version of Burp Suite democratizes the enterprise cybersecurity expertise that businesses so need.

Burp Suite Enterprise Edition makes PortSwigger's world-leading research accessible to every business - whether large or small. It does this by performing scans through an indefinitely scalable pool of agents. If you require more scanning capacity, you can simply add more agents.

Our pricing reflects this scalable approach. Starting out with a base cost for Burp Suite Enterprise Edition (including one agent), you're able to purchase additional agents at will. Some of our customers run a single agent, while others utilize hundreds at once.

The fallacy of poor cybersecurity

As an SME, you might think you're too small to worry about hackers. But the reality is, criminals know that many SMEs lack proper cybersecurity - and they target this. While even a veteran cybercriminal might lack the expertise to attack a large and well-protected enterprise, unprepared small businesses are like a free buffet for these nefarious actors.

And for many smaller businesses, a data breach could be devastating. While the financial costs of a breach can be significant, it's the associated reputational damage that often delivers the killing blow. Customers simply do not trust an organization known for a half-hearted attitude to security.

The irony of this situation is that a data breach often kickstarts a drive within a firm to finally achieve good cybersecurity. But while holes in your online defences are easily patched, erosion of a previously trusted brand is much more difficult to rectify.

To achieve military-grade cybersecurity takes regular - and justifiably expensive - penetration testing. But a vulnerability scanner can easily help you bring things up to a sensible level. It will also help you get more value from any pentests you might conduct - by removing "low-hanging fruit". Of course, being automated, this is all available 24/7.

The risks of cyber-attack for small businesses

Hackers are increasingly targeting SMEs as low-hanging fruit. But just how dangerous could a cyber-attack be for a small business? Here are the main risks:

You will almost certainly lose money - A successful cyber-attack can easily cost an SME money. This might be through fines relating to noncompliance, fees for rectifying cybersecurity problems at short notice, payment of compensation to customers, or even the cost of extortion fees.
Your reputation might never recover - We don't need to tell you that reputation is everything. Increasingly savvy customers are unlikely to trust you with their data if they associate your name with unsafe practices.
Critical data may be lost - Data has never been more crucial to business. In many cases, this is exactly what hackers are trying to steal. Could your small business deal with the loss of critical customer intelligence data?
It risks the end of your business - While they run similar risks to SMEs, large enterprise businesses are generally better placed to soak up the damage from a successful cyber-attack. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for smaller businesses. One breach can easily spell the end.

Small business cybersecurity that will grow with you

Burp Suite Enterprise Edition's valued users range from small companies, right up to some of the world's largest organizations. Our software enables users to quickly find, triage, and rectify their cybersecurity issues, no matter what the size of their operation might be.

Part of this is because Burp Suite Enterprise Edition is effective even where an organization lacks security-trained personnel. Burp Suite Enterprise Edition is easy to install, and all of its output is written in language intended to be understood.

Developers love our straightforward remediation advice - written with their needs in mind. Meanwhile, an intuitive user interface and practical reports mean the whole scanning process can be managed by non-technical staff if necessary.

All of this is designed in-house, under the watchful eye of our world-leading cybersecurity research team. Day-to-day development is still led by PortSwigger's founder, Dafydd Stuttard - who literally wrote the book on web app security testing.

No matter how your business evolves, Burp Suite Enterprise Edition is ready to assist, with features to support your journey. View numbers of vulnerabilities over time, and readily assess your security posture using various convenient dashboards. Integrate easily with issue tracking software like Jira, and/or a CI/CD pipeline if you're in development.

Burp Suite Enterprise Edition is designed to grow with you. Used by some of the world's largest businesses, it's equally at home in the SME environment.

With Burp Suite Pro, I am able to much more efficiently perform web and mobile application pen testing, having almost every feature I need within one product, including automation with scanning, Intruder, etc. that other tools don't provide as well. ^{Source: TechValidate survey of PortSwigger customers}

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Tony DeLaGrange

Penetration Tester