INNOVATION ESET
THE SME’S CYBER-DEFENCE STRATEGY If you are an SME, your company faces many of the same security challenges as a large corporate – but without the same type of budget. Here’s how to prevent your small to medium business from falling victim to cybercrime. By Carey van Vlaanderen, CEO, ESET Southern Africa
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hen reading the news, it is easy to assume that hackers almost exclusively target large corporations. Of course, there is a reason why these attacks so often make the headline news – this is because, when they do occur, the resulting data breaches or ransom figures are so large that they cannot be ignored. However, the fact is that SMEs are actually the more frequent targets. In fact, some reports indicate that more than 60% of all data breach victims are businesses with fewer than 1 000 employees. It has also been estimated that more than half of SMEs go out of business within six months following a hack. This demonstrates that avoiding a breach by effectively securing your company against cybercrime
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has become a critical component to business success in the SME space.
Troubling statistics It goes without saying that most SMEs do not typically have the advanced threat detection and security infrastructure deployed in
It has also been estimated that more than half of SMEs go out of business within six months following a hack. This demonstrates that avoiding a breach by effectively securing your company against cybercrime has become a critical component to business success in the SME space.”
large businesses, which is something hackers are quite well aware of. They understand that it is far easier to break into 10 businesses with almost no security than a single large and near-impenetrable company. While the payouts may be smaller, in the end, their final total will make such an effort well worth it. Unfortunately, IT security solutions are often seen as an avoidable operating expense – much like insurance, they are often a grudge purchase – but this is only until something goes wrong. ESET research indicates that 69% of SMEs either do not have sufficient security budget, enough in-house expertise or, in some cases, both. In fact, it highlights that 20% – one in five of these businesses – have no security at all. Furthermore, SME operations are often more relaxed, with less control over endpoint protections like employee passwords, which are the cause of 63% of data breaches. Now, more than ever, with staff working remotely and digital connectivity at an all time high, small to medium businesses need to take meaningful measures to protect their data, activity and systems.
The solution So what is the solution for organisations with large security demands, but small security budgets?
