Only 40% of Small Business Owners Have a Cybersecurity Policy

Millions of businesses have ordered employees to work from home in the past several weeks, but not all are prepared to protect them: Only 40% of small businesses have implemented a cybersecurity policy, a number that drops to 25% for companies with less than 20 workers.

The Cyber Readiness Institute (CRI) polled 412 small business owners in late March and learned that half are worried remote work will lead to more cyberattacks. However, 40% said economic uncertainty will prevent them from making the security investments they need. Less than half (46%) have offered training to help employees stay secure while working from home.

Nearly 60% of small business owners said some employees would be using personal devices when working from home. However, 51% said they provided employees with technologies to improve cybersecurity for remote work. More than half (55%) said they believe federal and state governments should provide cybersecurity products and funding.

Smaller companies are even less prepared: Only 22% of those with less than 20 employees said they provided additional security training before enabling remote work. Only 34% of these smaller companies gave employees technologies to improve cybersecurity while working from home.

Read more details here.

A listing of free products and services compiled for Dark Reading by Omdia analysts to help meet the challenges of COVID-19.