More than half of small and medium-sized businesses are operating without IT security guidelines in place, according to research released by security software company AVG.
The company surveyed a sample of 2,000 SMBs in the United States and United Kingdom and found that not only do more than half have no security guidelines, but that “1 in 7 have no Internet security software or solutions in place at all.”
This is obviously not good practice for any business, but for small businesses, whose resources and budgets tend to be especially limited, overlooking security can be truly catastrophic. All it would take is one virus or one Web server vulnerability to bring operations grinding to a halt, potentially resulting in lost productivity and revenue.
Notably, 83% of respondents in AVG’s survey said they were aware of the importance of Internet security, yet not all of them had preventative solutions in place.
AVG’s report, which can be downloaded here, contains a few other interesting findings about SMBs and technology, including:
- 39% of SMBs say they have employees with “a high level of IT competence” and more than half have essentially no technical resources on staff.
- As the economy slowly recovers, more than 2/3 of small businesses expect to expand in the next five years.
- 67% of respondents are considering moving to cloud-based services in the future.
Does your company have tech security guidelines in place? Let us know in the comments.
