MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA:  Small and Medium business (SMBs) are considering information protection as their highest IT priority, found out a new study by Symantec Corp’s Global SMB Information Protection Survey.

According to the survey, 15 months ago, a high percentage of SMB had failed to enact even the most basic safeguards. This shift makes sense as SMBs are facing increased threats from cyber attacks, lost devices and loss of confidential or proprietary data.

The survey is based on responses from 2,152 SMB executives and IT decision makers in 28 countries in May 2010.
"Small and mid-sized organizations are facing increased risks to their confidential information -- including bank account numbers, credit card information and customer and employee records. Whether it's due to a malware attack, a server crash, or a stolen mobile device, loss of information can be highly detrimental, if not fatal for an SMB," said Bernard Laroche, senior director of product marketing at Symantec.

He added,  "A year ago, a Symantec survey found one-third of SMBs did not have the most basic protection of all -- antivirus protection. It is exciting to see that SMBs acknowledge the risks they face and are taking action to protect their information more completely."

SMBs surveyed showed a heightened interest and increased investment in information protection. They rank data loss and cyber attacks as their top business risks, ahead of traditional criminal activity, natural disasters and terrorism.

SMBs are now spending an average of $51,000, a year, and two thirds of IT staff time working on information protection, including computer security, backup, recovery and archiving as well as disaster preparedness. Eighty-seven percent of SMBs have a disaster preparedness plan, but there is still work to be done as only 23 per cent rate their plan pretty good/excellent.

According to Symantec, SMBs need to develop Internet security guidelines and educate employees about Internet safety, security, and the latest threat,  Part of the training should focus on the importance of regularly changing passwords and protecting mobile devices.

SMBs are facing increased risks to their confidential information so safeguarding this data is critical. One data breach could mean financial ruin for an SMB. Implement a complete protection solution to ensure proprietary information -- whether its credit card information, customer data or employee records -- is safe.

Implementing an effective backup and recovery plan is also essential.  Select a mail and Web security solution that can help mitigate spam and email threats so SMBs can protect sensitive information and spend more time on day-to-day activities, as spammers and phishers will use current events and social engineering tactics to get users to give up personal information such as credit card and banking information.