SME’s struggling in the face of BYOD and new cyber threats
June 23rd, 2012 by BrightCloud
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are struggling to keep IT infrastructure up to date with mobile working and the increasing volume and sophistication of cyber threats.
A recent survey by security firm Sophos has revealed which network security issues keep IT managers up at night.
Key Findings
- Most SMEs (92%) now need to support remote working
- Over half of the IT managers were most concerned about related security risks.
- 35% were concerned about managing remote devices
- 30% saw data encryption as a challenge
- Only 21% of respondents were “very confident” their wireless network is secured
- On average, firewalls were five years old
- 1in 5 had suffered a network outage caused by malware in the past 12 months
- A third struggle with applying consistent security policies across all offices
Read the full report: Sophos Network Security Survey
“The growth in remote working, mobile, BYOD and cloud delivered applications means SMEs businesses really need to think differently about protecting their networks.”
Duncan Little, BrightCloud Managing Director
It is evident that most SME businesses have recognised the issues evolving and are planning to do something about it, 44% have projects planned in the virtualisation and Cloud Computing area and of those 70% are beefing up their security. The main concerns are the level of sophisticated threats, mobile device management and data loss prevention. For SME’s, it is critical that any network security solution has both the ease and simplicity of a one-size-fits-all approach, yet still addresses the specific vulnerabilities of each device or mode of working, as well as every access point on the network. Companies are re-evaluating how they tackle IT security. A fragmented approach is consistently leaving networks vulnerable to attack as new technologies, such as cloud, and new mobile devices require more advanced security architectures.
While many SME’s know they need to do something to make their business data more secure, they often do not have the in-house expertise to know exactly what should be done. SME’s also tend to implement new technologies to cut costs, boost productivity and enable innovation, but without thinking through the security implications. Security, however, is not something SME’s can afford to neglect, particularly as it could be a differentiator.
“Security needn’t be cost prohibitive for SME businesses. Provided that you use a planned approach addressing the real risks, blending products with in-house skills and outsourced services really high level security can be very affordable. Additionally considering other benefits from technologies such as Citrix or Palo Alto means that a sensible SME approach to security can also be a strategic gain for the organisation.”
Duncan Little, BrightCloud Managing Director
As a leading provider of Cloud Services BrightCloud offers a managed security that includes Secure Access, DLP, MDM, Antivirus and Malware filtering, which allows IT teams to focus on their area of expertise without the constant need to evaluate and deploy new technology.
