Survey uncovers lack of security among SMBs 

The Office Depot Small Business Index survey, which polled over 1,000 SMBs, found that 66 per cent of businesses are confident in the security of their data and hardware, with 77 per cent claiming they have never been targets of an attack.

According to McAfee, these results are at odds with previous research conducted by Verizon. Their 2012 Data Breach Investigations Report found that most SMBs they polled had no idea they’d even been attacked. Furthermore, 72 per cent of the data breaches they investigated in relation to that research were among businesses with fewer than 100 employees.

Additionally, the Office Depot survey found that only nine per cent of SMBs use endpoint or mobile device security, and 45 per cent do not secure their data on employees’ personal devices.

Eighty per cent do not use data protection, only 50 per cent use Internet security, and less than half use email security. Most significant, 14 per cent of respondents said they have not employed any security measures for their data or devices.

“A business that doesn’t have any security measures in place is putting their data and customers’ trust in jeopardy,” said Bill Rielly, senior VP, Small and Medium Business, McAfee. “As enterprises have increased their security defenses, hackers have started to target their attacks downstream to SMBs. We applaud Office Depot’s SMB survey, which not only took the pulse of cyber crime, but also increased security awareness among the small business workforce.”