How much of a page-turner would any McAfee report be unless it scares the pants right off of us?
McAfee recently announced the findings from a joint survey with Office Depot, Inc. that revealed surprising security misconceptions among small and medium-sized business owners.
Ready for the scary part?
More than 1,000 SMBs participated in the Office Depot Small Business Index survey last month, and a super-majority (66 percent) felt confident that their data and devices are secure and safe from hackers, with 77 percent responding that they haven’t been hacked.
But their sense of security is not deserved.
The results, in fact, are at odds with industry research that has revealed these same businesses are prime targets of complex and evolving cyber threats.
“Cyber attacks on small businesses rarely make headlines, so it is easy for these business owners to be lulled into a false sense of security, as indicated in this survey. It is especially important for small business owners to secure their systems, as they may not have the resources to survive a cyber attack, unlike a large corporation,” said Congressman Chris Collins. “I urge small business owners to dedicate the necessary resources to securing their data, and support McAfee and Office Depot in their efforts to raise awareness among business owners about the importance of cyber security.”
Seventy-two percent of data breaches investigated by Verizon Communications’ forensic analysis unit were focused on companies with less than 100 employees. The discrepancy suggests that many SMBs are not aware that they’ve been attacked.
Yes, we know that Halloween is over, but if you would like to be scared further, check out more findings and warnings contained in the new McAfee report here.
