Cybercrime is key worry for SMEs

Cybercrime is one of the top three worries for UK small businesses, a new survey published this week reveals.

One in five (20%) of small business IT decision makers said they are worried about cybercrime, a similar number to those concerned by strong competition (21%).

Bankruptcy was the most common concern, with 39% of small businesses worried about entering administration.

A quarter of those polled said their business had been disrupted by a computer virus in the last twelve months, whilst one in ten (14%) confessed to having lost company data.

Surprisingly, most small businesses were happy for staff to spend over half an hour (36 minutes) per day browsing non-work related sites, although most firms imposed restrictions on online behaviour.

The majority prevent staff from accessing pornography (72%) and gambling (64%) sites, whilst a significant minority block access to social networking (39%), online chats (32%), and online shopping (24%).

The research was carried out by Opinion Matters/Tickbox.net using a sample of 252 UK-based small businesses.