Small firms are not spared from increasing sophistication of cyber threats

WHEN we think of data security in relation to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), many assume that because of the size of their organisation, they only need to deploy mid-level security to protect their data, and that the larger enterprises must have the latest scalable protection.

Putting this into the context of our living space. It does not mean that someone who lives in a smaller apartment requires only a small lock as compared to someone who lives in a mansion. Although the mansion may be larger, the contents of your slightly smaller house may hold much more value. The same holds true for data security - regardless of the size of your organisation, your data is a goldmine for cybercriminals.

As Paul Ducklin, senior technologist at Sophos puts it: "SMEs need to know that the size of a breach is irrelevant, because once your data is in the hands of the attackers, you are no longer in control of where the data will end up.