A small- or medium-size business (SMB) must be just as careful as a bigger one when it comes to cybercrime. A new survey from security firm Panda Security finds that nearly half of SMBs in the United States--44 percent--were hit by some form of cybercrime.

The survey found that 10 percent of American SMBs surveyed were hit so hard they had to stop production. Half of the companies surveyed lost time or productivity as a result of being infected.

"IT security is a major issue for small and mid-sized businesses because these companies often lack the in-house staff and resources to fight off increasingly sophisticated and exponentially more targeted Internet attacks," PandaLabs technical director Luis Corrons told SCMagazineUS.com in an email. "These companies also tend to be pretty distributed in nature, often employing a high percentage of remote workers and consultants."

Small companies know the threats are out there. Nearly 100 percent of U.S. SMBs have installed anti-virus software and have up-to-date security, reports the magazine. Nevertheless, the moral of this survey is that businesses should never forget to keep their defenses up--no matter what the company size.

For more on increased SMB risks:
- check out this SCMagazineUS.com article

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