How Small Businesses Can Fight a Growing Wave of Cyber Crime

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News

4 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 August 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A surge in cyber attacks is increasingly hitting small businesses, the backbone of the U.S. economy. According to a forthcoming survey from Mastercard, nearly half of business owners have experienced a cyber attack, and nearly one in five that suffered an attack then filed for bankruptcy or closed their business. WSJ cybersecurity reporter James Rundle and Seyoung Jeon, lead cyber analyst at Security Intelligence Provider Dragonfly, discuss the vulnerabilities of small enterprises, what these attacks mean for the greater economy and what businesses can do to defend themselves. Kate Bullivant hosts. Further Reading Hackers Target Eldercare Homes For Some Companies, the Real Cost of a Cyberattack Is Telling Everyone About It New York Orders Local Governments to Start Reporting Cyberattacks Microsoft Alerts Firms to Server-Software Attack U.S. Tells Companies to Prepare for Iranian Cyberattacks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you haven't tried Abercrombie denim yet, you're missing out.
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0:13.1	When you find your staple fit, it'll be the pair you reach for day after day for every plan.
0:19.2	Shop Abercrombie denim in the app, online and in store.
0:29.4	Hey, What's News listeners, it's Sunday, August 10th.
0:32.8	I'm Kate Bullivant for the Wall Street Journal.
0:35.4	This is What's News Sunday, the show where we tackle the big
0:39.1	questions about the biggest stories in the news by reaching out to our colleagues across the
0:44.1	newsroom to help explain what's happening in our world. On today's show, we're going to talk
0:49.9	about how a surge in cyber attacks is increasingly hitting small businesses, the backbone of
0:55.4	the U.S. economy. It comes as the number of overall cyber attacks are ramping up, thanks to
1:01.2	more sophisticated ransomware and escalating geopolitical tensions with countries such as China
1:07.3	and Russia. In just the past few months, we've reported how Microsoft was hit by,
1:12.3	quote, active attacks targeting its server software, as well as the US government warning
1:17.7	companies to watch for increased cyber attacks linked to the conflict with Iran. And while
1:22.9	we often hear about how cyber attacks are hitting large businesses, the impact these attacks are having
1:28.5	on mom and pop shops can be overlooked.
1:32.0	There are constantly people, you know, trying to do these scams all the time.
1:36.8	It said that they need me to secure my account or I will lose access to it.
1:40.9	I get emotional because this took a huge financial burden on my family and myself.
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