One in five SMEs have no cyber security policy in place

Magnet+ research comes as telco unveils partnership with Exponential-e

Trade

John Delves, Magnet+ and Simon Acott, Exponential-e

One in five businesses in Ireland do not have a cyber security policy in place, according to this year’s National Cyber Security Survey from Magnet+.

In 2021, almost one third of respondents said they allocated less than 10% of their IT budget to cyber security measures. This year’s follow-up found 38% had not increased their budget for 2022, while a further 37% said they have no idea if their budget had changed. Just 25% of businesses said they had increased their cyber security budget for 2022.

When it comes to responsibility for IT security in Irish businesses, nearly 30% of respondents said the business owner or office manager was responsible, 13% either didn’t know who was responsible or that no one was responsible, and 47% said that a CTO or IT manager was responsible.

Almost one in four businesses said e-mail attachments pose the greatest cyber security threat to their business, yet 50% of businesses have not implemented an e-mail security solution to prevent this.

“These figures are quite concerning to me,” said John Delves, managing director, Magnet+. “We live in a digital economy where the risk of a cyber attack on a business is always increasing and usually these cyber hackers tend to be a step ahead.”

The survey comes as Magnet+ announces a new partnership with Exponential-e, making it the first telecommunications company in Ireland to add a full cyber security service to its suite of connectivity solutions.

Reacting to the survey, Exponential-e director of business Simon Acott said: “In the current climate we are seeing an increase in the number of cyber attacks on a global scale and the reality is what we read about in the media is a very small per cent of the actual number of cyber-crimes happening as more often than not, it’s the SMES and smaller companies that are being hit the most… Business owners need to prepare for the inevitable and start seeing investing in cyber security as an asset as opposed to a cost.”

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