the Fraudian Slip Podcast: Identity Theft Resource Center – 2025 Business Impact Report by ITRC

Summary 

• The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) recently released its annual Business Impact Report, supported by Mitek, which captures the impacts of identity crimes and cyberattacks on small businesses and solopreneurs. 
• According to the report, 81 percent of small businesses reported suffering a security breach, a data breach or both in the past year. Artificial Intelligence-powered attacks were identified as a root cause in more than 40 percent of cyber events. 
• Among breached small businesses, 62.5 percent reported a total financial impact—including lost revenue, remediation costs and fines—of more than $250,000 in 2025. Within that group, more than a third of all victims (36.7 percent) faced costs exceeding $500,000, an increase from 2024.  
• For the first time, 38.3 percent of small business leaders reported they “raised prices” to address the financial impacts of an incident. This creates a hidden “cyber tax” that helps fuel inflation.   
• ITRC President, James E. Lee, sat down and discussed the findings from the 2025 Business Impact Report by ITRC. You can learn more about the report and other topics discussed in this podcast by visiting our company website, www.idtheftcenter.org. To download the report, click here.  
• If you think you are the victim of identity theft, fraud or a scam, call or text the ITRC toll-free by phone (888.400.5530) or live chat on our webpage to speak with an expert advisor. 

 Below is a transcript and webinar of our podcast with James E. Lee, President of the Identity Theft Resource Center  

Welcome to the Fraudian Slip, the Identity Theft Resource Center’s (ITRC’s) podcast, where we talk about all things identity theft, fraud and scams that impact people and businesses. This week, we published our 2025 Business Impact Report by ITRC, supported by Mitek.  

The report examines what happens specifically to small businesses and solopreneurs following a data or security breach. For the report, the ITRC surveyed small business owners, leaders and employees to paint a picture of small organizations and individuals that are significantly impacted by cybercrimes, often multiple times in a short period of time. According to the responses, cyberattacks are a near-universal threat, with a shift toward Artificial Intelligence-powered attacks.  

ITRC President James E. Lee presented the findings from this year’s report in a webinar. We have a link below for this week’s podcast.  

Watch the Webinar  

You can download a copy of the 2025 Business Impact Report by ITRC on our website, www.idtheftcenter.org/reports. You can also click here.  

Contact the ITRC 

If you think you have been the victim of identity theft, fraud or a scam, or want to avoid becoming a victim, you can speak with an ITRC expert advisor toll-free on the phone or via text (888.400.5530), chat live on the web or send us an email during our normal business hours (6 a.m.-5 p.m. PT Monday-Friday). Just visit www.idtheftcenter.org to get started.  

Please hit the like button for this episode and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Join us on Monday for a special Fraudian Slip podcast, our final episode of 2025, where we look at our predictions for 2026 with Head of Global Consumer Marketing at Gen, Melissa Voeller.