How Likely Your State’s Businesses are to Recover from Cyberattacks

Jump to:

• The Top 5 States for Business Cyberattack Recovery
• Methodology
• Additional Cybersecurity Data Across America
• State-by-State Breakdown
• Media Inquiries

Cyberattacks are a potential risk for any business and it has never been more important to keep your business safe online. With ransomware breaches increasing by nearly 500% between 2018 and 2020, small and medium businesses can face devastating losses when they don’t secure their data. Lucky for you, it’s possible to get ahead.

As business internet specialists that are passionate about keeping customers safe, the Go.Verizon.com team set out to find which states have the greatest likelihood of business recovery from cyberattacks. Here’s what we found.

The Top 5: State-by-State Breakdown

For the second year in a row, Vermont made the top 5 states for business cyberattack recovery. Even more, its score increased 20% from our 2020 report, and the state resources for cybersecurity show that they take threats seriously.

South Dakota moved down a spot from last year, but was able to securely stay in the top 5. While phishing is an increasing threat among Americans, South Dakotans only lost $1,074 per 10,000 businesses from phishing last year.

Colorado has an impressively low number of data breaches per 10,000 businesses at 0.06%. It also only had $274 in victim losses from malware per 10,000 businesses, which pales in comparison to Iowa’s $7,346.

The Pine Tree State boasts the country’s lowest rate of victim losses from phishing per 10,000 businesses at $578. The next closest state, South Dakota, had nearly double the amount of losses from phishing scams.

While Montana wasn’t breach-free, the state only had 175 records stolen per 10,000 businesses. The state also increased its score from our last report by a staggering 25.5%, bringing it from a D to an A and placing it in our top 5. 

Methodology

To find the likelihood of recovery within a state for businesses that experienced cyberattacks, we looked at the following information:

• The number of small businesses per state in 2021
• The percent of all business bankruptcies in the past year according to the US Courts
• The number of data breaches per state and number of records lost/stolen in data breaches per state in the past two years according to Privacy Rights
• The number crime type by victim count reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the crime type by victim loss according ic3’s 2020 data

Each category was standardized and then given a weighted score to receive an overall score (the higher the score, the less likely a small business is to go bankrupt by a cyberattack). Each category was weighed as follows:

• Small businesses per population: 20%
• Percent of all business bankruptcies state level: 25%
• Total number of data breaches per 10,000 businesses: 15%
• Total number of records lost/stolen per 10,000 businesses: 15%
• Corporate loss per 10,000 businesses: 5%
• Malware loss per 10,000 businesses: 5%
• Phishing scams per 10,000 businesses: 15%

After weighted scores were calculated, each state received a curved score to determine its letter grade.

• A = 78–100 points 
• B = 75–77 points 
• C = 71–74 points 
• D = 56–70 points
• F = 0–55 points

Additional Cybersecurity Data Across America

• Florida has the greatest rate of small to medium size businesses (SMBs) per 10,000 people, with a total of 2.8 million SMBs.
• In Texas, 41.5% of all bankruptcy cases were related to SMBs. From our 2020 report to our 2021 report, Texas’s score went down 13.2%, bringing it from a C to a D.
• California had the greatest phishing losses, totaling $8,864,419.
• Alaska had a 44.8% increase in its score from the 2020 report to the 2021 report, bringing it from an F to a B.

State-by-State Breakdown

About Go.Verizon.com: Go.Verizon.com is an authorized premium partner of Verizon.

Reporters may send questions to media@verizon-business.com.