Britain’s businesses open IT security threat

37% of UK SMEs admit they either do not have, or are unsure of the level of their IT protection, according to new research out published earlier this month.

This admission follows figures revealing over 15,000 new computer viruses were discovered in 2005 alone.

The research by Business Link also revealed that 47% of SME managers believe that they will be at risk of a security breach in the next twelve months - with 59% of those believing the threat will come from electronic viruses.

More than one in ten businesses are failing to review their IT security at least once a year and with 22% of those questioned stating they’re not confident in their ability to manage IT security due to a lack of understanding of the technologies involved, it appears that British SMEs are severely unprepared to cope with any significant threat.

Research from the National Computing Centre (NCC) shows that small businesses are especially prone to believing they do not face the same risks as larger companies.

Even one-man bands share the same risks but often they do not understand what they are and what they need to do about them.