The report Cisco SMB Cybersecurity Report reports that more than half (53%) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have experienced security holes in 2017. The report surveyed 1.816 small businesses (from 0 to 250 contributors) and medium sized enterprises (250 to 500 contributors) of 26 countries.
Increasingly, SMEs are becoming the target of cyberattacks. Whether direct casualties or spearheads for wider attacks, the vast majority of them have a less sophisticated security infrastructure than larger enterprises, less experience, and a greater lack of skilled employees to manage and respond to threats.
Four out of ten companies surveyed (39%) admitted that less than half of their systems were affected by a serious attack, while 40% of medium-sized companies experienced a system outage for 8 hours or more as a result. Although the companies consulted managed an average of 5.000 security alerts daily, only 54% are investigated (55,6% in the case of medium-sized companies). Of the alerts investigated, 37% are legitimate. And of these, 41% remain to be repaired, with the consequent risk for organizations.
Attacks against contributors such as phishing (79%), permanent advanced threats (77%), ransomware (77%), DDoS attacks (75%), and proliferation of BYOD phenomenon (74%) are the top five security concerns for SMEs.
Likewise, most SMEs recognize that as they create a more heterogeneous environment of products and suppliers, their concerns increase. 77% of medium-sized companies find it difficult or very difficult to organize alerts from various security solutions.
With this, SMEs must have recovery plans and reinforce the training and awareness of their employees. Such as upgrading your terminal security to better protect yourself from advanced malware, improving the security of your applications against web attacks (18%), and implementing intrusion prevention solutions, still considered a key technology to prevent attacks on network (17%).
In Angola we do not have reports of this kind, but have our small companies invested in security?
