Two court rulings are giving hope to small businesses that have previously been liable for bank funds lost to hackers, the Wall Street Journal reports. Under state laws, small business owners, unlike individuals, are responsible for losses incurred when their bank accounts were looted by cyberthieves.

But a Boston appeals court recently ruled that Maine's Ocean Bank was accountable for the $600,000 stolen online from the account of Patco Construction Co., a small contracting business that didn't even have an IT specialist on staff. Last year, a Detroit judge ruled in favor of a Michigan custom metals shop that lost $561,399 from its bank account in a phishing scheme.

On average, hackers made 151 attacks per day on organizations in the first half of 2012, 30% of which targeted small businesses, according to data released by Symantec.

For the full story. See another report on the Patco court ruling here, and an earlier story on online banking thefts here.