Small and mid-sized businesses (with 10 to 499 employees) in the country are aware of the need to adopt a complete information protection strategy that goes beyond a basic antivirus solution, Nasdaq-listed Symantec Corp has found in its 2010 Global SMB Information Protection Survey. While 67% of the respondents cited data loss as a key concern area, 60% consider cyber attacks as a potential business risk.
The Symantec 2009 Security and Storage survey revealed the lack of a basic security solution like antivirus in contrast with the 2010 findings in which information protection initiatives such as backup, recovery and archiving are finding acceptance. The current annual average spend on IT is approximately Rs 1,48,000. There is a marked increase in the adoption of backup and recovery solutions (80%) as well as new technology like de-duplication (51%), either installed or in the process of installation.
?The impact of losing critical business information is detrimental for SMBs and can result in damaged reputation and revenue losses,? said Vineet Sood, head, Channel and Alliances, Symantec. ?Last year, a Symantec survey found that security awareness levels were low and many SMBs did not even have a basic antivirus solution. The 2010 survey findings highlight a progressive trend towards SMBs adopting a more comprehensive information protection strategy.?
According to the survey, 50% consider loss of critical business information as a top business risk. About 70% of the respondents lost confidential data in the last one year with 66% suffering revenue losses. About 61% reported negative impact on their image and 46% saw a dip in customer trust.
About 68% of SMBs are prone to cyber attacks, while 22% fight these on a regular basis. Information protection initiatives are also on the rise. Backup and recovery has emerged as one of the key areas of improvement. About 80% SMBs consider installing backup, recovery infrastructure as ?somewhat? & ?absolutely important.?
