Small Businesses Are More Vulnerable to Security Threats

A survey by Nulab has revealed that small businesses are more vulnerable to cybersecurity threats than their bigger competitors.

By Jason Cohen

Many of us are adapting to working from home, but what about the companies who employ us? Nulab spoke to 1,000 full-time employees who are working remotely about workplace cybersecurity. The results show that most workers believe their company has security issues, with many of the worst issues prevalent at smaller companies.

According to the study, 76 percent of employees overall felt security was at least somewhat problematic at work. But 23 percent of workers at companies with 1 to 50 employees and 19 percent of workers at companies with 51 to 100 employees felt important data was not sufficiently secure. Comparatively, only 8 percent of employees at places with 501 to 1,000 workers felt data was not properly secured.

Only 42 percent of those workers confronted their employer about the issue. One major reason that number might be so low is that companies don’t seem to be listening to the concerns of their employees. That’s especially evident at small businesses-those companies with fewer than 50 employees-where 44 percent of the respondents who talked to their employer said the company was either slightly or not at all responsive.

But what exactly are companies doing wrong? Respondents said the biggest issues were a lack of training (33 percent), a failure to teach safe digital habits (32 percent), and weak password protocols (28 percent). The survey’s data shows that all companies struggle with some of the biggest issues, but as you go down the list, it’s clear that bigger companies are more often protected by data backups, password protocols, privacy settings, and other measures.

This fact is only emphasized as the study breaks down specific issues. Small companies are seemingly more reckless when it comes to password management, as 66 percent of employees from companies with 2 to 100 workers felt their employer-provided passwords were insecure. On the other side, only 43 percent of employees from companies with 501 to 1,000+ workers felt the same.

What was most revealing about the security challenges facing small businesses was the fact that 35 percent of employees from companies with 2 to 50 workers said their company has no dedicated technology department or staff. Overall, 15 percent of respondents indicated that their company has no IT whatsoever.

Originally published at https://www.pcmag.com.