Factors Related to Small Business Cyber-Attack Protection in the United States

The purpose of this quantitative predictive correlational study was twofold. First, the study attempted to identify whether there is a predictive relationship between company characteristics (i.e. length of company ownership, number of employees, cyber-attack knowledge, cyber-attack success index) and cyber-attack protection (i.e. network systems communication dependability, network operations dependability and cyber-attack protection activity). Second, the study attempted to identify if cyber-attack protection is the same in businesses with and without cyber-attacks. The data from 335 small business owners or managers were analyzed. The results of the study suggested that cyber-attack knowledge was the main predictor of cyber-attack protection and its three identified dimensions, and that cyber-attack success index was a significant predictor for network systems communication dependability dimension of cyber-attack protection. Additionally, the findings suggested that cyber-attack protection is significantly higher in businesses with no cyber-attack than in those with cyber-attack. Recommendations for future research are provided.