Network Security News

SMBs often forego basic web security measures

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

IT security at small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) is woefully inadequate, with many SMBs reporting they have no spam filtering or firewall protections in place, according a new study.

Panda Security, which surveyed 5,760 companies worldwide, said 44 percent of the more than 1,400 U.S. SMBs have recently been infected by malware. Worldwide, 58 percent were affected, with Brazil showing the highest infection rate at 86 percent.

Ten percent of SMBs in the U.S. said their online security had been compromised to the point of having to stop production, a worldwide average of 30 percent.

Although 97 percent of U.S. SMBs surveyed said they have installed antivirus systems, 29 percent have no spam blocker in place, 22 percent no antispyware and 16 percent no firewall. About 52 percent lacked any web filtering solution, the survey found.

Of those U.S. SMBs without any security systems in place, 27 percent said they aren't important or necessary and 20 percent said they are too expensive.

SMBs are a frequent target of cybercriminals due to lax security measures. Security experts say SMBs may want to employ the use of email archiving as a way to protect against data loss.