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Lack of preparation leaving SMEs vulnerable to cyber attacks

Published on: 25 Jul 2018

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are leaving themselves open to damaging cyber attacks by failing to prepare, as the threat of cyber attacks facing businesses increases.

That’s the main finding from research commissioned by the London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (LORCA), which opened in the city’s Olympic Park in June.

A survey of C-level executives found that half of organisations with more than 500 employees have suffered a cyber attack in the past 12 months.

This comes despite 91 per cent of larger organisations saying they have a formal protocol in place to prepare for an attack.

While just 12 per cent of SMEs surveyed have been hit by a cyber attack in the past year, only 37 per cent have a formalised protocol for dealing with them.

For almost half of these organisations (46 per cent), cyber security responsibility falls to the CEO rather than a specialist.

The research also suggests that SMEs are less likely to seek external specialist help due to a simple lack of awareness.

Almost two in five (37 per cent) SMEs polled said that awareness was the key obstacle when implementing a new and innovative solution to cyber threats.