For any size business, intellectual property is a key asset and computer systems are paramount to a smooth running operation. Therefore, to ignore the risk that cyber can present to businesses by failing to invest and at least take rudimentary precautionary steps, seems somewhat shortsighted.
Whilst appreciating that there are many demands on small businesses and their capital, protecting the mechanisms by which they generate revenue and therefore profit must be appropriately considered within businesses of all levels.
The key word there is "appropriately" - not everyone will, or should invest, in the Rolls-Royce solution of cyber, but ignoring it totally is equally not the right approach. Businesses of any size need to ensure that they are taking appropriate measures to prevent being a victim in the next cyber-epidemic to hit the world.
The first step in this is to perform an independent current state assessment, so that appropriate decisions can be taken to plug any obvious and immediate weaknesses.
Given the ever increasing reliance businesses place on technology, now is not the time for ignorance!
A survey of more than 1,000 small businesses in the UK found that 38% will not allot a single pound for cyber protection this financial year, with 47% thinking cybersecurity is too expensive. Conducted last month by YouGov for Duo Security, the online survey also revealed that 30% of these firms have less than 3% of their overall budget going to cyber protection while 45% do not consider themselves hacking targets.
