Indian Businesses Least Prepared For Cyber Breaches: Survey

Indian small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are least prepared for cyber breaches, despite high cybersecurity awareness among employees, according to a survey released by ESET.

Indian SMBs experienced the highest rate of cybersecurity breaches (73 per cent) within the past three years, the highest in the region compared to Hong Kong (61 per cent), Singapore (54 per cent), Thailand (53 per cent) and Japan (29 per cent).

Despite this, the survey showed that 77 per cent of SMBs in India had cybersecurity awareness programmes in place to educate employees, the highest among the Asia Pacific (APAC) nations surveyed, including Thailand (71 per cent), Singapore (66 per cent), Hong Kong (56 per cent) and Japan (24 per cent).

Indian SMBs were also most likely to have standard procedures in place for network security, with 81 per cent of SMBs already having this in place.

Given that 83 per cent of Indian SMBs indicated that their companies should be investing more in cybersecurity, the highest rate in the region, SMBs should allocate their funds wisely to secure the most critical areas, mentioned the survey.

"With cybercriminals and cyber threats becoming increasingly sophisticated, SMBs need to look into stronger cybersecurity tools and measures to protect their digital assets," said Parvinder Walia, Sales and Marketing Director for Asia Pacific and Japan, ESET.

"Cybersecurity measures such as two-factor authentication can add an extra layer of security and provide businesses with a boost in protection, even if the first line of defence has been compromised."