OpenText has released the results of its Security Solutions 2022 Australian Small-Medium Business (SMB) Ransomware Survey. It shows growing concern about ransomware attacks, the impact of geopolitical tensions and rising inflation rates. Ninety-two percent of respondents noted they are concerned or extremely concerned about an attack impacting their business. It also showed that SMBs were concerned about tightening security budgets despite increased risks.
Prentiss Donohue, Executive Vice President at OpenText, said, “SMBs are a sweet spot for hackers to exploit because they often lack cybersecurity resources, both technology and security expertise. Today’s complex threat landscape presents a huge risk to SMBs that don’t have sufficient cyber resiliency preparation to stop the spread and recover quickly from an attack. With adversaries becoming increasingly sophisticated and relentless, a multi-layered protection strategy is no longer a nice to have, it is a necessity.”
Key findings include:
- 67 per cent of SMBs are worried about their cybersecurity budget shrinking amid rising inflation rates.
- 63 percent of respondents feel more at risk of suffering a ransomware attack because of heightened geopolitical tensions.
- 42 per cent are ‘extremely concerned’ about a ransomware attack impacting their business.
- 60 per cent of SMBs have experienced a ransomware attack, yet 49 per cent still don’t think or aren’t sure they are a ransomware target.
- The majority (61 per cent) of respondents are not confident or only somewhat confident that they can fend off a ransomware attack.
- Despite many having experienced an attack before, security budgets are minimal to protect against ransomware and other threats:
– 76 percent spend less than $50,000 per year.
– 43 percent spend less than $20,000 per year.
– Only 9 percent spend more than $50,000.
MSPs are an appealing security option for SMBs to offset resource constraints
- More SMBs outsource their security to an IT provider or MSP than not, with 71 per cent using external security management support.
- Concurrently, 79 per cent of SMBs that don’t currently use an MSP would consider doing so in the future.
