40% of UK SMBs say they’re too small to be attacked

That’s compared to 47 percent in Europe, according to a new study 

A new report has shone a light on the cybersecurity challenges facing SMBs in Europe and their attitudes towards them.

Security vendor Sectigo surveyed 1,167 security-decision makers at companies with fewer than 500 employees, to gauge SMB security vulnerabilities, ascertain impacts of recent breaches and measure security spending trends for small businesses.

According to the research, 20% of SMBs have experienced a breach in the past year alone, despite nearly 75% claiming they have the right tools and processes in place to prevent attacks.

Alarmingly, 47% of EU respondents said their business was “too small to be the target” of an attack, despite 1 in five actually suffering an attack in 2020. The figure was slightly lower (40 percent) for UK SMBs –  73% of European small businesses, meanwhile, believe they are effectively mitigating risks.

Lost Revenues, Customers, Time, and IP

What were the impacts of these attacks? Well for small businesses, increasingly reliant on customer website traffic in the wake of the pandemic, not good. Only 3% of those who suffered an attack reported no business impact as a result of it. While 28% reported “severe” or “very severe” consequences and more than a third said they incurred revenue loss.

Given most of the respondents said they use some form of website protection, this suggests small businesses need to up their game and consider more sophisticated tools to avoid these consequences in the future. Half of all respondents expect to increase website security spending in 2021.

“As SMBs increasingly digitize their operations, their websites become mission-critical for communicating with customers and conducting business,” explained Michael Fowler, President of Partners and Channels, Sectigo. “No business is too small a target. Attacks continue to evolve, and hackers are increasingly resourceful, making it critical for SMBs to invest in multi-layered solutions that stay ahead of ever-changing threats.”