The Top 5 Cyber Threat Misunderstandings of SMB Decision Makers

Keeper Security has released their findings after surveying 500 senior decision makers at SMBs surrounding cyber threats. Their findings suggest many businesses are under-prepared for cyber attacks — and that many SMB decision makers have severe cyber threat misunderstandings.

Here are some cyber threat misunderstandings, according to their findings:

1 – Cybersecurity isn’t a priority

60% of respondents say they do not have a cyberattack prevention plan
less than 10% of businesses rank cybersecurity as a top business priority
nearly half the CEOs, corporate chairs and owners claimed a cyberattack is not likely
respondents rank recession (28%), damage to public reputation (19%) and a business model disruption (17%) as the most prominent threats to their businesses

2 – It’s too difficult to begin

One out of four (25%) surveyed say they don’t even know where to start

3 – “I’m too small to be a target”

62% of respondents from companies between $1M and 500M in revenue said they believe experiencing a cyberattack is not likely, while companies under a million are even more likely to believe this (73%)
Media and entertainment respondents feel the most safe, with only 4% reporting an attack as “very likely” — respondents in financial services, however, say they believe they are most vulnerable to an attack, with nearly half saying an attack is somewhat or very likely

4 – It is someone else’s job!

33% of respondents say it is the company leadership’s responsibility to have a plan for cyber threats
under 10% say that cybersecurity is up to individual employees
14% of team leaders say company leadership is responsible, whereas over half say it is the job of a dedicated team

5 – Passwords are still awful

almost 70% of their survey’s respondents give credence to password strength
three-quarters of them have some sort of policy which states employees should update passwords regularly
13% of company leaders were more likely to not know company password policies

The survey was conducted online. All figures are from YouGov Plc. unless otherwise noted.

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