66% of SMBs globally reported a cyberattack within the past 12 months, 76% in the U.S
CHICAGO, Oct. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- For the third consecutive year, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have reported a significant increase in targeted cybersecurity breaches. A newly released global survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute, a world-renowned independent research organization, found that attacks against U.S., U.K. and European businesses are growing in both frequency and sophistication. Further, nearly half (45%) of the 2,000 respondents described their organization's IT posture as ineffective, with 39% reporting they have no incident response plan in place.
The 2019 Global State of Cybersecurity in Small and Medium-Sized Businesses report underscores growing cybersecurity concerns best illustrated through the year-over-year trends dating back to 2016. The survey, commissioned by Keeper Security, measured responses from 2,391 IT and IT security practitioners in the U.S., U.K., DACH, Benelux, and Scandinavian.
"Cybercriminals are continuing to evolve their attacks with more sophisticated tactics, and companies of all sizes are in their crosshairs," said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, The Ponemon Institute. "The 2019 Global State of Cybersecurity in SMBs" report demonstrates cyberattacks are a global phenomenon- and so is the lack of awareness and preparedness by businesses globally. Every organization, no matter where they are, no matter their size, must make cybersecurity a top priority."
Significant 2019 Findings:
"More businesses are experiencing highly-targeted, sophisticated and severe cyberattacks than ever before, yet the results of our study show they aren't doing enough to close the gap," said Darren Guccione, CEO, and co-founder of Keeper Security. "We sponsor this annual research with Ponemon because we want SMBs to understand that no target is too small for cybercriminals and it's not enough to simply be aware of the cyberthreats that exist. It's absolutely critical that these businesses take the next step toward cybersecurity preparedness and get a strong prevention strategy in place."
New Technologies, New Cybersecurity RisksSMBs globally are adopting emerging technologies like mobile devices, IoT and biometrics despite a lack of confidence in their ability to protect their sensitive information. Nearly half (48%) of respondents access more than 50% of their business-critical applications from mobile devices, yet virtually the same portion of respondents (49%) said the use of mobile devices to access business-critical applications diminishes their organization's security posture.
In addition, a large majority of respondents (80%) think it's likely that a security incident related to unsecured IoT devices could be catastrophic, yet only 21% monitor the risk of IoT devices in the workplace. The study also suggests biometrics may be becoming mainstream; three-quarters of SMBs currently use biometrics to identify and authenticate or have plans to do so soon.
Regional Highlights:United States
United Kingdom
DACH (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland)
Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)
Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden)
Learn More During Upcoming Webinars Keeper and Ponemon will discuss the findings of the Ponemon 2019 Global State of Cybersecurity in SMBs study in more depth during live webinars for the U.S. on Oct. 30 at 10:30 a.m. EST and for the U.K. and Europe on Oct. 31 at 3:30 p.m. GMT.
About the Ponemon 2019 Global State of SMB Cybersecurity Study Ponemon Institute interviewed approximately 2,391 IT and IT security practitioners from companies in the U.S., U.K., DACH, Benelux, and Scandinavia between August 7 and September 30, 2019, using a web-based collection method. Respondents represented companies with headcounts ranging from 100 to 1,000.
About Keeper Security, Inc. Keeper Security, Inc. ("Keeper") is transforming the way organizations and individuals protect their passwords and sensitive digital assets to significantly reduce cybertheft and data breaches. Keeper is the leading provider of zero-knowledge security and encryption software covering password management, dark web monitoring, digital file storage and messaging. Named PC Magazine's Best Password Manager (2018) & Editors' Choice (2018, 2019) and awarded the Publisher's Choice Cybersecurity Password Management InfoSec Award (2019), Keeper is trusted by millions of people and thousands of businesses to protect their digital assets and help mitigate the risk of a data breach. Keeper is SOC-2 and ISO 27001 Certified and is also listed for use by the Federal government through the System for Award Management (SAM). Keeper protects businesses of all sizes across every major industry sector. Learn more at https://keepersecurity.com.
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