Data loss is the biggest concern for small businesses: Trend Micro

According to a recent survey by href="http://www.dqweek.com/Trend-Micro-appoints-Neoteric-as-its-ND-">Trend
Micro, viruses, Trojans, data-stealing malware, and data leaks were
rated as big IT concerns among small businesses. The survey included
1,600 end-users in the US, UK, Germany and Japan. On average, 63
percent of small businesses were most concerned by viruses, 60
percent by Trojans, 59 percent by data-stealing malware (malware
designed by cyber criminals specifically to steal data), followed by
56 percent by data leaks-the intentional or unintentional sending
of sensitive or crucial information outside the corporate network.
Phishing scams and spam were least concerning among the small
businesses surveyed. Small businesses are less prepared,
less aware of data loss. Despite these worries, the survey found that
across all countries, small organizations are less likely by 23
percent to have preventative data leak policies in place than large
companies. The biggest difference was found in Japan where 81 percent
of large companies have data leak prevention policies in place
compared to only 47 percent of small companies. For those businesses
that have preventive data leak policies in place, employees in large
companies are also significantly more likely to have received
training on data leak prevention than those in small companies. "What
this tells us is that data
loss, either through internal data leaks or malware, is a serious
issue for small businesses, especially as they become more aware of
their attractiveness to cybercriminals," commented Amit Nath,
Country Manager-India and SAARC, Trend Micro. He further added “It
would not be surprising to see data-stealing malware and data leaks
pushed up to number one and two on this list in the next few years."

The survey found that the most
prevalent forms of IT protection against data stealing malware is
installing security software, restricting Internet access and
implementing security policies. Even then, 21 percent of small
business employees still say that their IT departments can do a
better job at protecting them on potential risks associated with
data-stealing malware. More alarmingly, more than one third (35
percent) of employees in small companies indicated their IT
department could have done a better job educating them about data
stealing malware. This is worsened by the fact that
employees within large companies indicate more awareness of
confidential business information than those in small companies.
Employees in large US companies are significantly more likely to
indicate data leaks as a serious threat than those in smaller
companies-74 percent in large companies, 49 percent in small
companies. In the UK, this is also significant: 73
percent of employees from large companies say they are aware of
confidential information compared to 63 percent from small companies.
Also worth noting is that in every country, employees in larger
companies are significantly more likely to agree that other employees
have leaked data from within their organization.