Data Loss: Major Enterprise Concern

Viruses, trojans, data-stealing malware, and data leaks were rated as big IT concerns among small businesses, according to Trend Micro’s 2010 corporate end user survey, which included 1,600 end users in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan. On average, 63 percent of small businesses were most concerned by viruses, 60 percent by trojans, 59 percent by data-stealing malware, followed by 56 percent by data leaks. Phishing scams and spam were least concerning among the small businesses surveyed.

The survey found that the most prevalent forms of IT protection against data stealing malware is installing security software, restricting Internet access and implementing security policies. Even then, 21 percent of small business employees still said that their IT departments could do a better job at protecting them from potential risks associated with data-stealing malware. Perhaps more tellingly, more than one third (35 percent) of employees in small companies indicated their IT department could have done a better job educating them about data stealing malware.

Despite these worries, the survey found that across all countries, small organizations are less likely by 23 percent to have preventative data leak policies in place than large companies. The biggest difference was found in Japan where 81 percent of large companies have data leak prevention policies in place compared to only 47 percent of small companies. For those businesses that have preventive data leak policies in place, employees in large companies are also significantly more likely to have received training on data leak prevention than those in small companies.

For more, read the eWeek article Data Loss Major Concern for Businesses: Survey.