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Small Businesses Need To Improve Cybersecurity
Mike Sachoff
Staff Writer
2009-10-27
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Small business owners need to do more to ensure the safety of their employees, intellectual property and customer data, according to the 2009 National Small Business Cybersecurity Study.
 | | Small Businesses Need To Improve Cybersecurity |  |
The study was co-sponsored by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and Symantec and surveyed nearly 1,500 small business owners in the United States about their cybersecurity policies.
Only 28 percent of U.S. small businesses have formal Internet security policies and just 35 percent provide any training to employees about Internet safety and security. At the same time, 86 percent of these firms do not have anyone solely focused on information technology security. For those small businesses that do provide cybersecurity training, 63 percent provide less than 5 hours per year.
The study found that while more than 9 in 10 small businesses said they believe they are safe from malware and viruses based on security practices they have in place, only 53 percent of firms check their computers on a weekly basis to ensure that anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewalls and operating systems are up-to-date and 11 percent never check them.
"The 20 million small businesses in the U.S. are a critical part of the nation's economy. While small business owners may understandably be focused on growing their business and the bottom line, it is imperative to understand that a cybersecurity incident can be disruptive and expensive," said NCSA Executive Director Michael Kaiser.
"To the millions of very savvy entrepreneurs across our nation, our message is simple - being smart about the online safety of your employees, business and customers is a critical part of doing business. Cybersecurity is not a nice thing to have for American
businesses, it is critical to their survival."
About the Author:
Mike is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.
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