Two thirds of UK SMBs underprepared to combat cyber threats

Just 37% of SMBs believe that their company has a sufficient IT security procedure in place.

IT workers from close to a third of firms (32%) treat IT security as merely part of their overall responsibilities, which suggests that important security tasks are not receiving adequate attention.

These were the findings of a recent report from security vendor Webroot, which posed questions to 700 IT chiefs worldwide from Australia, the U.S., and the UK, from firms with 1,000 workers or fewer. Close to 60% of those surveyed believe that their company is more susceptible to online attacks than larger organisations, JP Morgan for example, due to a lack of resources to implement a defence.

Almost two thirds (63%) of UK respondents said that they feel more confident regarding their firm’s endpoint protection capabilities. In Australia, that numbers lies at just 55%. UK SMBs predict that their firm would lose £215,901 on average from online attacks next year.

In general, there was an encouraging sign for the future, with 81% saying that they intend to raise their annual security budget in 2016 and are willing to listen to further strategies that could improve their IT security.

Webroot product marketing director George Anderson said:

“SMBs play a pivotal role in helping drive the economies of all the countries polled, but past experiences have taught them they face an uphill battle when it comes to cyber security.”

UK SMBs would do well to make their IT security recruitment plan a part of their overall strategy to ensure that they have the necessary knowledge and experience in place to implement defence plans.