SPAM emails often contain viruses that can disable a computer system and a firm's entire network. Even if the emails don't contain a virus, they waste valuable working time and computer space by clogging up staff emails.
The latest research by IT firm Symantec showed that over 90% of small businesses believe that IT security is very important for their business. However, 41% of those questioned don't have any dedicated IT staff and only a quarter currently spend between 41-60% of IT budgets on security.
According to research by IT firm Symantec, over 90% of small
businesses believe that IT security is very important for their business
"If budgets are going to rise, IT departments need to tap into these funds and use them appropriately to protect their data, brand, and intellectual property. If they don't they could be facing steeper costs further down the line," says James Baker, small and medium businesses sales development manager at Symantec.
IT security is essential to all small firms, and in the current economic climate it is more important than ever that vital time is not wasted due to staff being unable to operate computer systems.
"Having appropriate security policies and technologies in place, along with adequate controls on employee data access, will prevent breaches and security issues from occurring," said Baker.
The research also revealed that security breaches are primarily caused by Hardware failures (57%), human error and loss or theft of back up data (37%) improper or outdated security systems (35%) and sabotage by employees (35%).
Against this backdrop of increased risk it is clear that small firms must either allocate the necessary time and resources to IT security or consider outsourcing this to specialist companies to ensure their IT is adequately protected.
