Study: SMBs are highly vulnerable to cyber threats

While 80 percent of the respondents had antivirus software installed, less than half said that they had anti-spyware solutions, according to the findings.

Conducted by market analyst Quocirca, the study polled 240 senior managers from companies in the United States with less than 1,000 employees, and 200 from four European countries with less than 300 employees.

Only 25 percent of respondents had automated data backup processes in place, and more than 30 percent of these had not checked their ability to recover files in the past year, the study found.

The percentage of respondents that had an automated patch management system in place for non-Microsoft applications totaled less than 30 percent. And while more than 75 percent of the SMBs surveyed utilized a high-speed internet connection, more than 25 percent said they had not checked the security of their internet connection in at least a year.

Bob Tarzey, service director at Quocirca, said: "These studies reveal that while SMBs continue to embrace technology, a disturbing number lack the resources necessary to protect their IT assets in a sufficiently organized manner.

"SMBs need to make sure they have a comprehensive security and backup strategy in place for their increasingly business-critical computing infrastructure."