{“lastseen”:”2026-05-04T16:05:07″,”description”:”This week on the Lock and Code podcast\u2026\\n\\nYour prices could be going up because of a little something that one group has started calling the \u201ccyber tax.\u201d\\n\\nNot a \u201ctax\u201d in any regulatory sense of the word, this newly named \u201ccyber tax\u201d is instead a consequence of the growing number of cyberattacks on small businesses. According to the latest research from the Identity Theft Resource Center, 81% of small- and medium-sized businesses suffered a data breach, a security breach, or both, within the past year. And of those businesses, more than 50% of lost more than $250,000.\\n\\nAccording to the most recent data from the US Federal Reserve, the median American family has just $8,000 in savings, meaning that a hit of $250,000 could bankrupt a family and turn their lives upside down. But there\u2019s an interesting layer within this data\u2014the median American family is quite similar to the median American business. In fact, they\u2019re often the exact same person.\\n\\nThe local grocer, the nearby HVAC repair service, the avid cyclist who just opened a bike shop, and the tax professional, and physical therapist helping out neighbors are everyday individuals and family members. They do not have multimillion dollar corporations at their backs, supporting them with legal teams, insurance policies, and dedicated IT support teams.\\n\\nA loss of $250,000, then, is a potential loss of their business. And to stay afloat, the Identity Theft Resource Center found, for the first time ever, that 38% decided to raise their prices.\\n\\n\u201cIt was near 40% said \u2018We actually had to raise prices\u2014we had to pass this cost onto our customers,\u2019\u201d said Eva Velasquez, CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center. \u201cWe’re now really seeing the long-term downstream effects of cyberattacks.\\”\\n\\nAs frustrating as the cyber tax can be, small businesses themselves are also facing a new wave of cyberattacks, from AI-powered phishing emails so convincing that small business owners can\u2019t tell the legitimate from the illegitimate, to deepfake calls that impersonate the CEO of a three-person company, to supply-chain attacks that target small companies as a way to reach bigger ones. \\n\\nToday, on the Lock and Code podcast with host David Ruiz, we speak with Velasquez about cybercrime\u2019s impact on small businesses, the new threats being deployed because of AI, and what is necessary to protect business owners and their consumers.\\n\\n\\u003e \u201cGreat businesses with great protocols in place can still have a vulnerability exploited because this is what the cyber bad guys are doing all day long. They only have to be right once, whereas small business owners have to be right 100% of the time.\u201d\\n\\nTune in today to listen to the full conversation. \\n\\n_Show notes and credits:_\\n\\nIntro Music: \u201cSpellbound\u201d by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) \\nLicensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License \\nhttp:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/ \\nOutro Music: \u201cGood God\u201d by Wowa (unminus.com)\\n\\n* * *\\n\\n**Listen up\u2014Malwarebytes doesn\u2019t just talk cybersecurity, we provide it.**\\n\\nProtect yourself from online attacks that threaten your identity, your files, your system, and your financial well-being with our exclusive offer for Malwarebytes Premium Security for Lock and Code listeners.”,”published”:”2026-05-04T14:59:06″,”modified”:”2026-05-04T14:59:06″,”type”:”malwarebytes”,”title”:”Cyberattacks are raising your prices (Lock and Code S07E09)”,”source”:””,”references”:””,”id”:”MALWAREBYTES:F48EA5CF12E6B71596DEA674F514A73E”,”bulletinFamily”:”blog”,”cwe”:null,”cvelist”:[],”sourceData”:””,”sourceHref”:””,”cvss”:{“score”:0,”severity”:”NONE”,”vector”:”NONE”,”version”:”NONE”},”cvss2″:{},”cvss3″:{“version”:””,”vectorString”:””,”baseScore”:0,”baseSeverity”:””,”attackVector”:””,”attackComplexity”:””,”privilegesRequired”:””,”userInteraction”:””,”scope”:””,”confidentialityImpact”:””,”integrityImpact”:””,”availabilityImpact”:””,”cvssV3″:{“version”:””,”vectorString”:””,”baseScore”:0,”baseSeverity”:””,”attackVector”:””,”attackComplexity”:””,”privilegesRequired”:””,”userInteraction”:””,”scope”:””,”confidentialityImpact”:””,”integrityImpact”:””,”availabilityImpact”:””}},”href”:”https:\/\/www.malwarebytes.com\/blog\/podcast\/2026\/05\/cyberattacks-are-raising-your-prices-lock-and-code-s07e09″,”category_name”:”News”,”post_link”:””,”product”:””,”version”:””,”vendor”:””,”ai_description”:””,”ai_severity”:””,”ai_vendor”:””,”ai_product”:””,”ai_version”:””,”ai_score”:0}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{“lastseen”:”2026-05-04T16:05:07″,”description”:”This week on the Lock and Code podcast\u2026\\n\\nYour prices could be going up because of a little something that one group has started calling the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6,8,12,115,13,33,7,11,5],"class_list":["post-51233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-category_news","tag-cve","tag-cvss","tag-exploit","tag-malwarebytes","tag-news","tag-none","tag-security","tag-tapic","tag-vulnerability"],"yoast_head":"\n