Are Canadian Businesses Protecting Their Information Properly?

It’s hard to believe that in this age of virus threatening our computer systems, not enough is being done by businesses to avert a security breach.  But according to a Symantec Corp. study just released, many Canadian small and medium sized businesses have yet to implement basic security solution such as antivirus and backup and recovery. 

The study was part of the Canadian findings of Symantec Corp.'s, 2009 Storage and Security Small and Midsized Business (SMB) survey.  While 94% of Canadian SMBs understand the importance of protecting their properties, some of the reasons for not creating a more secure environment were budget considerations, time and skill-level of workers.  Moreover, 35% of the respondents still did not have tntivirus protection installed.  Michael Murphy, vice president and general manager of Symantec Corp. says the importance of security is undisputed for SMBs.

Unfortunately, we continue to see SMBs lack the necessary budget and awareness of threats to ensure confidential data is secure, which can impact their bottom line. As the workforce becomes more mobile and adapts to new technologies to improve business efficiency, organizations must prepare for the future and be aware of the solutions available to them.

Protecting endpoints (software that protects "endpoints" such as laptops, desktops and servers against malware) was also an overlooked issue. According to the survey findings, 60% of companies polled had not protected these endpoints.

This is despite the fact that a quarter of companies polled do not have password protected desktops and laptops, and more than half have had a lost or stolen laptop or Smartphone.

So, is there good new coming out of this survey at all? Yes, at least Canadian companies are aware of the latest threats impacting their business.  Despite the current economic climate, 91% of Canadian SMBs anticipated their IT budget to remain the same or rise within the next year.