Abstract
Small businesses and small minority owned businesses are vital to our nation’s economy; therefore legislation, regulation, and policy has been created in order to assist them in overcoming their economic stability issues and ensure they continue to serve the communities that rely on them. However, there is not a focus on regulating nor assisting small businesses to ensure their cybersecurity standards are up to par despite them increasingly becoming a victim of cyberattacks that yield high consequences. The external oversight and assistance is necessary for small businesses due to their lack of knowledge in implementing effective cybersecurity policies, the fiscal expense to comply with regulations applicable to large corporations, and the detrimental effect a cyberattack could have on their patron’s personal data and the overall survival of the business.
Technology has traditionally evolved at a faster pace when compared to the law and the legal system. Therefore, large companies have been able to mitigate the lack of cybersecurity regulation and assistance due to mass resources at their disposal. After analyzing federal and state legislative and regulatory response to cybersecurity; it is evident that there is a myriad of standards and assistance targeted to industries and large corporations, yet not a tailored solution to assist small businesses in addressing their cybersecurity ineffectiveness. The solution is to utilize existing regulations and programs in place to create a collaborative effort that is specifically tailored to assist small businesses in developing an effective cybersecurity posture appropriate to the resources they have and the threat they face. Furthermore, to establish the scope of assistance small businesses need and specifically how minority owned small businesses are affected, the government needs to invest in the resources and funding necessary to collect data on cyberattacks effecting small businesses, minority owned small businesses, and their patrons.
Last Page
334
First Page
277
Journal Title
The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice
Recommended Citation
Matthew R. Espinosa,
Small Business Cybersecurity: A Loophole to Consumer Data,
24
The Scholar
277
(2022).
Available at:
https://commons.stmarytx.edu/thescholar/vol24/iss2/5
Volume Number
24
Issue Number
2
Publisher
St. Mary's University School of Law
Editor
Lydia R. Harris
ISSN
1537-405X
Included in
Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons, Commercial Law Commons, Computer Law Commons, Consumer Protection Law Commons, E-Commerce Commons, Information Security Commons, Internet Law Commons, Law and Society Commons, Legal Remedies Commons, Privacy Law Commons, State and Local Government Law Commons
