Quarter of SMEs risk cyber attack

More than a quarter of Yorkshire small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) could face cyber security issues.

Research from Cyber Streetwise, an awareness initiative from the Home Office and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), found 27 per cent of businesses in the region risked losses by believing common security misconceptions.

These include the beliefs that only businesses that take online payments are at risk from cyber threats and that small businesses have “nothing of interest to hackers”.

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Three quarters of SMEs (76 per cent) don’t believe their businesses to be vulnerable to attack, while only 12 per cent said improving security was a priority.

Last year, 33 per cent of small firms were hit by a cyber attack from someone outside of the company.

According to the Government’s Information Security Breaches Survey, the average cost of severe disruptions - lasting between seven to 10 days - is between £65,000 and £115,00.

“SMEs are the UK’s engine of growth, but because cyber criminals know this, they are continuously looking at ways to exploit them” James Lyne, global head of security research at Sophos, said.

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“Small businesses hold a wealth of data but many don’t realise quite how valuable this data is.”

Lee Newcombe, KPMG information protection and business resilience in Leeds, said clients must understand what cyber threats mean.

“It’s not just an issue for major e-commerce organisations, it’s an issue for any business which is reliant upon information,” he added.