Budget and staffing limits mean SMBs struggle with security

SMBs around the world continue to cite budget constraints, paired with a lack of time and personnel to research new security threats, as the main obstacles facing the implementation of their IT security according to a new report.

The study from Untangle Inc studied over 300 SMBs, compiling data on budget and resource constraints, breaches, IT infrastructure, cloud adoption and more.

Security is ranked as a top IT priority for 80 percent of those surveyed, but 29 percent spend less than $1,000 on IT security annually. The lack of a dedicated IT security workforce is also apparent with 52 percent saying they don’t have an in-house IT security professional on staff.

"Despite several limitations including budgets, time and workforce constraints, SMBs are now, more than ever, reassessing their investments into IT security," says Timur Kovalev, chief technology officer at Untangle. "In addition to must-have SMB IT features, such as firewalls and end-to-end network security, cloud-based services and distributed workforces have highlighted the need for SD-WAN solutions to establish secure connections between globally dispersed locations, offering further network-wide control and visibility for threats and attacks."

Among other findings, 48 percent list budget constraints as the main barrier faced when it comes to IT security, followed by limited time to research and understand new threats (36 percent) and employees who don't follow IT security guidelines (32 percent).

Network complexity is a factor too, 40 percent of small and midsize businesses operate in at least five physical locations, including remote access workers. Also most SMBs (74 percent) now have at least part of their IT infrastructure deployed in the cloud.

You can get the full report from the Untangle site.

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