Firms remain vulnerable to cyber attacks

Small businesses and other firms remain complacent and vulnerable to the threats posed by cyber attackers, new research claims.

Protection experts Kaspersky found that only 20 per cent of firms believe that they could be the victim of an attack, despite previous research showing cyber security to be a top concern among the majority of businesses.

The security enterprise says that it deals with up to 200,000 new malicious programs per day, showing that the threat is more serious than the figures suggest.

Mathew Robinson, Director of Corporate Sales at Kaspersky Lab, explained: "The trend towards consumer device use, mobile and remote working, and an increasing array of operating systems and platforms is resulting in a heterogeneous IT landscape riddled with vulnerabilities and resource-intensive to maintain."

It comes after research from BSA, the software alliance, revealed that nine out of ten small businesses believe that purchasing or downloading software levels can leave them open to liability concerns.

Posted by Thomas Fletcher

Date published 5 Feb 2013 | Last updated 5 Feb 2013