How smaller businesses struggle with security advice

Cyber-criminals increasingly target small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) because these are perceived to have the weakest defences. There is compelling evidence that, at present, SMEs are not implementing all the required security measures to protect themselves, despite significant efforts by official bodies and security professionals to improve resilience.

Cyber-criminals increasingly target small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) since they are perceived to have the weakest defences. And there is compelling evidence that SMEs are not taking the necessary steps to protect themselves.

This is in spite of significant efforts by official bodies and security professionals to offer advice about the ways in which SMEs can improve their resilience. Karen Renaud at the University of Glasgow discusses the results of a study which found that SMEs expressed a need for advice and information and yet still suffer from a high level of uncertainty about security.