QuickBridg Funding, a financial services firm offering small business loans to businesses nationwide, released its latest white paper. “Cybersecurity and Small Businesses: Are You Protecting Your Customers?” and the “Ransomware: Extortion in Today’s Business Age” infographic offer advice on how to protect business data from cybercriminals.

The new white paper and infographic educate small business owners on which industries are most at-risk for cyberattacks, the data hackers are targeting, the methods they use and the use of supplementary working capital to protect business and customer data.

Hackers are targeting small businesses that typically have a moderate amount of data with minimal security. Statistics indicate that about half of small businesses have or will experience a cyberattack. Even more alarming, approximately 50% of small businesses that fall victim to cybercrimes are unable to recover and are forced out of business within six months.

Whether its e-commerce transactions or an upsurge in brick-and-mortar credit card purchases, the fast-paced holiday shopping season leads to an increase in hacking activity.

“With risk rising at an alarming rate, small businesses must prepare themselves to not only keep attackers at bay but also to respond effectively in the event of a disaster,” said QuickBridge President Ben Gold. “At QuickBridge, we take cybersecurity seriously. We encourage business owners to have the resources and security protocols in place to guard against these attacks.”

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Irvine, CA, QuickBridge Funding provides small business loans and short-term working capital loans for small to mid-sized businesses nationwide. It ranked two consecutive years on the Inc. 500 list.