British SMBs 'not as concerned as others' by cybersecurity

2009-10-02

Cybersecurity is a concern for many different kinds of businesses, but it seems that British small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are not as worried about it as others. In fact, a recent poll by cloud security vendor Panda revealed that British SMBs are the lowest spenders on IT security in the world.

Nearly all of the 7,500 SMBs (98 per cent) admitted to spending less than £1,000 per annum on security solutions, while 51 per cent of these do not spend more than £300 each year. On top of this, 22 per cent of firms either do not, or are not sure, if they have any security solutions in place.

Nearly six in ten (57 per cent) UK SMBs with security solutions in place are using free software, which is the highest level globally. This is compared to a European average of 38 per cent.

"Traditionally, free software is for the home and not for the business. These days businesses need to manage their computers and with a free solution you don't have a central console and therefore cannot do that," commented Luis Corrons, technical director at Panda Security.

He noted that "free software will not offer the technical support most SMBs will need to recover".

Other results from the Panda research found that 80 per cent of those without security who use PCs in their business said they do not believe they need it. Nearly four in ten (38 per cent) of SMBs surveyed in the UK reported experiencing infections from internet threats. The European average stood at 68 per cent.

According to a recent Gartner poll, security software budgets are expected to grow by around four per cent next year. Security services budgets, meanwhile, are predicted to grow almost three per cent in 2010, outperforming other service areas.

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