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Why small businesses struggle with cyber security

In part two of the interview with The Cleaning Crew, Bryley Systems President, Gavin Livingstone, explains why cyber security is sometimes overlooked within small businesses.

Studies suggest cyber-security overconfidence in small/medium businesses

In a recent survey by Symantec and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), most small and medium-sized businesses participating felt they were safe from cyber threats, although just 17% of the 1,015 companies had a formal plan for cyber security.  Other contradictory items:

  • Although 77% recognized that strong cyber security was important for their brand, 59% had no plan on how to respond to a data breach.
  • Only 13% had a written Internet policy, but 62% believed that their employees knew the company’s Internet policy and practices.

 

Visit Small biz survey: No cybersecurity plans — no worries. What? for the full CNet article by Charles Cooper.

 

In a separate survey during the fall of 2011, research firm Opinion Matterspolled 200 IT decision makers working in companies of five to 250 employees.  Although almost 88% had web-monitoring/filtering software, over 40% of respondents have had a security breach due to unsafe web browsing.

 

Visit 40% of SMB have had a security breach due to unsafe Web surfingfor the full ConnectIT article by Mark Cox.

 

Both studies suggest that these businesses are not as secure as they think.