- Prevention, emergency assistance, and insurance coverage offered by Perseus and SIGNAL IDUNA for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

- SMEs are increasingly targeted by cyber criminals 

- German Government: SMEs do not care enough about their own cyber security 

Berlin, 9th March, 2018

Berlin-based startup Perseus launched  the Perseus Cyber Security Club. The services are aimed at SMEs, who need to actively prevent against attacks from cyber criminals. In case of a cyber attack, Perseus members can reach out to an emergency service hotline. In addition, members can purchase a cyber insurance policy from SIGNAL IDUNA to insure them against cyber risks. 

"Cyber security is becoming more and more important for the German economy from year to year," states Perseus CEO Steffen Teske, referring to a 2017 survey done by the consulting firm EY. According to this survey, nearly half of the companies reported having suffered a cyber attack in 2017, compared to only one in five enterprises in 2015. “With the Perseus Cyber Security Club we are actively reducing a flaw, identified by the future government, concerning the lack of SME cyber security”, says Teske. In the coalition agreement, the Union and the SPD state that small businesses in particular are not yet sufficiently aware of the dangers of cybercrime. According to a recent study commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Economics, a quarter of SMEs do not even encrypt e-mail communications.

“Data thieves and blackmailers increasingly target small and medium-sized enterprises because they encounter less resistance than with corporates”, says Steffen Teske. Large corporations often maintain a robust cyber security infrastructure. SMEs, on the other hand, do not pay attention to the cyber security topic as they lack the know-how and hence consider it too challenging and time consuming. Perseus CEO Teske is convinced that, “with the Perseus Cyber Security Club, SMEs can have a one stop solution for all their cyber security needs”.

Key features of Perseus Cyber Security Club membership are videos and training materials which inform businesses and their employees about security risks and give recommendations for actions. Afterwards, employees undergo a cyber "driving license" training, which they have to qualify for on an annual basis. Through security tests, such as simulated hacker attacks, employees' awareness and compliance are being evaluated regularly. “Human mistakes are often a gateway for hackers”, says Teske. While experienced company leaders often assume that employees understand security rules on emails and attachments, they may overlook that if only one employe is careless, an entire company could suffer from the financial impacts of a cyber security breach. Aside from email, another popular trick of cyber criminals is to impersonate a supervisor in a fake e-mail, in order to request a bank transfer, for instance. The trainings and compliance frameworks developed by Teske's team educate businesses on how to avoid such damaging cyber security incidents.

Safeguarding reputation, secure against damages

If a hacker succeeds in penetrating the system despite precautions, members of the Perseus Cyber Security Club can reach a hotline. IT and communication experts will then help to stop the attack and remediate the damage. “This is of critical importance, for example, for a doctor's office that has lost sensitive patient data," says Teske. Normally patients would be inclined to negatively review and comment on social media. Teske also cites companies that are victims of blackmail attempts as a further example. "Imagine a print shop that stands still because of a cyber attack and misses several appointments." According to management consultants EY, less than half of German companies are insured against such a business interruption. With the Perseus club membership, members are able to obtain a discounted SIGNAL IDUNA insurance policy.