The awareness for having a comprehensive IT security strategy in place, is one of the most significant drawbacks plaguing the Small and Medium Business (SMB) sector in India.
Voicing his concern, Trend Micro Country Sales Manager for India, Niraj Kaushik, said, "The general attitude in the SMB IT security scenario today, is installing either a gateway system or an antivirus solution for each terminal. A comprehensive security strategy to block all entry points is missing.'
Most SMB's allocate a shoestring budget for IT expenditures, which limit the adoption of latest security technologies, opening up a high-risk scenario for security attacks.
Niraj added, "New age viruses use multitechnologies to initiate an attack. For example, a spam mail can contain a link which would start infecting the whole client server system of an enterprise, the very moment that it is opened in a browser."
According to Anil Menon, Sr. Vice President-Operations, SECURESYNERGY, "Most SMBs do not have an extensive connectivity setup in place. Therefore the unwillingness to go in for a comprehensive security system arises. However, SMBs must realize that even through a dial up connection, the vulnerability to an attack still remains the same."
A recent survey conducted by Trend Micro projects startling facts, like 12% of all e-mails contain viruses, 50% of Internet e-mails are spam, and 85% of viruses come from the Internet.
There is a need to realize the significance of embracing security for various layers, namely at the gateway, the mail and message exchange server, the workstation etc. Menon adds, "30 to 40% of the SMBs have a security policy in place, but over a period of time they tend to forget that a review of the policy is required to keep in touch with newer technologies and vulnerabilities."
Of the 150 crore security market in India, SMBs constitute around 20-30%, including the SOHO and consumer segment, and is growing at 28%.
Security industry efforts should be focused towards training and establishing more channels, for making the importance of security known to SMBs. Menon added, "The goal is to inform SMB heads, that security spending is a business enabler" in the long run.
It is about time that the SMB segment in India wakes up from its slumber and adopts a comprehensive strategy for IT security.
