50 Percent of U.K. Small Companies Prone to Cyber Crime

Almost half of small businesses in the U.K. have suffered due to Internet crime, according to a fresh report from Get Safe Online, a group that campaigns opinions, as published by ITPRO.co on June 19, 2007.

Vanson Bourne, the company that conducted the research found that 36 percent of small businesses experienced a virus calamity and 18 percent had been victimized by spyware, phishing or hacking assaults over the past two years.

With growing sophistication in cyber crime, basic precautionary measures prove to be insufficient. Businesses must take additional steps like access control, data encryption, and practices for creating strong and secure passwords. They should also adequately train their staff, said Tony Neate, MD of Get Safe Online, and Computing.co reported it on June 19, 2007.

The study involving 1,008 U.K. small companies also unearthed that hardly 5 percent of them had put IT support in place to tackle the latest threats on the Internet. And, 60 percent of the respondents said they would have to close shop if their IT systems could not deal with the threats.

Of the businesses surveyed, 66 percent said they stacked important documents on their computers and 69 percent also saved their customer information on computer systems. Less than 32 percent customers in the latter group considered their IT equipments to be up to date with the latest Internet security appliances deployed.

Sharon Lemon, head of e-crime at SOCA (Serious Organized Crime Agency) said it should not be difficult for businesses of any size to step up protection against crooks. He, therefore, urges all businesses particularly small ones to use the new page available on www.getsafeonline.org to ensure the security of their online businesses. He believes that the economic well being of society is too high to neglect online crime, as published by Computing.co on June 19, 2007.

As per John Dunsmure, MD of the British Chamber of Commerce, it is crucial for businesses to be aware of the risks and take appropriate protection. This is particularly important for small businesses. Get Safe Online's efforts to recognize the specific challenges facing the SMBs are worth appreciation. I.T.Wales published this on June 19, 2007.

Related article: “Loopholes did not cause online banking thefts”: ICBC

» SPAMfighter News - 7/3/2007