Cybercriminals have small business firmly in their sights
By Robert Gorby, Global VP, Small Business Propositions, AVG I
f you are the owner of a small or growing business chances are you think you are too small for cybercriminals to be interested in you. If so, the latest study from AVG shows that you would be well advised to think again. And as the inexorable drift towards the mass use of mobile technology in the workplace becomes manifest, small- to medium-size businesses (SMBs) that do not take prompt action stand to lose a great deal.
The 2011 AVG SMB Market Landscape Report* (US and UK market only), by leading research company GfK, reveals that IT security breaches are relatively common with as many as one-in-six SMBs (17%) reporting having had an incident in the past year. Participants recorded that breaches took an average of 3-4 days to fix – equivalent to an average cost of £3,790.
SMBs are showing greater appetite for solutions used by mobile workers. However, not all are aware of the IT security risks that accompany this technology. One in five (19%) are employing Android smartphones; an equal proportion use BlackBerries while employees spend an average of one day a week (20% of their time) working away from the office. Yet only a quarter (27%) viewed the use of mobile phones in business as a threat to IT security. Very few SMBs are
currently using antivirus or internet security for Smartphones (16%) or solutions for mobile workers (2%).
As content is increasingly packaged for mobile consumption – often delivered via apps from cloud servers – methods to stay secure can become as confusing as they are numerous. While most users are familiar with the benefits of simple anti-virus software, not everyone appreciates the multitude of phishing and other scams that purveyors of malware will try to install on a device. While SMBs may not be dealing with issues of national security, While SMBs may not be dealing with issues of national security, cybercriminals have SMBs firmly in their sights as they try to get hold of anything of value from product roadmaps to pricing data to corporate bank account information.
SMBs are often most concerned about the more short-term, logistical issues resulting from an IT security breach, including time and cost to replace damage. However, those who have experienced a breach are more likely to have seen the longer- term impacts such as loss of sales and revenue opportunities. In the past 12 months, the overall cost of security breaches for SMBs was calculated at a total of:
• 30 million man hours lost in rectifying issues
• £1.18m (average £990 per business) in the UK and $5.60m (average $1570 per business) in the US spent on replacing hardware
• £2.19m (average £2800 per business) in the UK and $11.30m (average $4800 per business) in the US in terms of lost sales or revenue opportunities
Photo: Jim Merithew/
Wired.com
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