New cybersecurity aids for small business have been posted online this week by the House Small Business Committee.

The help, http://bit.ly/2n3rIzL, comes in the wake of a Committee hearing Wednesday that sounded the alarm about cyber dangers small businesses face.

Nearly 60 percent of small companies go out of business following a hack and 71 percent of all cyber assaults occur at businesses with under 100 workers, the Committee emphasized.

The cybersecurity small business aids are divided into three parts.

In a section on data breach response, the Committee gives guidance from the Federal Trade Commission on what steps a small business should take and who it should contact when hackers have stolen personal IDs and other information online.

For small vendors of Web-connected non-computer devices from light bulbs to lighting systems (the so-called “Internet of Things”), the Committee offers six pages of many time-proven tactics they can do to protect themselves and customers.

To protect personally identifiable information held by small firms, there is a brochure detailing five solutions:

1)Taking Stock – Know what personal information the business has its on its Web-connected computers.
2) Scale Down – A small business should keep only the information it needs.
3) Lock It – Ways a small firm can protect its information.
4) Pitch It –  How a small business can properly dispose of data no it no longer needs.
5) Plan Ahead – How to create a plan to respond to security incidents.