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Australian SMBs reliant on antivirus, unaware of APT: Trend Micro

Latest report by security vendor finds mobile security to be a growing concern among SMBs.

Only 22 per cent of Australian small businesses have heard of Advanced Persistent Threat security, a Trend Micro study has found.

The research by Survey.com found antivirus and anti-spam security is high on the security agenda for Australian small businesses, with 82 per cent of respondents aware of antivirus and 75 per cent know anti-spam and email security.

Trend Micro A/NZ small-medium sized business director, Mark Sinclair, said the results indicate less popularised security threats and technologies are not yet widely understood or embraced.

“Security threats are no longer solely the concern of large financial organisations as small businesses are increasingly targeted by cybercriminals,” he said.

Antivirus security technology is widely deployed across all sectors and SMBs, while 34 per cent said anti-spam is the most likely security technology to be deployed by an SMB in the next year.

“Small businesses are increasingly being targeted as their networks aren’t always well protected and as a result, tend to be easier for cybercriminals to get into,” Sinclair said.

Management of mobility

In a workplace environment proliferated by smartphones and tablets, the survey found more than half (57 per cent) of Australian SMBs said protecting mobile devices was important or extremely important.

Despite the growing concern and awareness of mobile security, only 38 per cent of Australian SMBs have deployed mobile device management to date.

Among those companies that have not, 37 per cent said they intend to deploy the technology in the next year.

“As the workforce becomes more mobile and social media and Cloud service adoption increases, the small business IT environment is becoming much more complex,” Sinclair said.

Patrick Budmar covers consumer and enterprise technology breaking news for IDG Communications. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_budmar.