intelligent

“ If business is down , cuts have to come from somewhere . Harder-hit sectors like retail or travel had to make different choices than those in a more fortunate position . Most spending was reactive ; to support remote work , many had to make investments in things like laptops , VPNs and collaboration applications .”

Nicole Mills , Senior Exhibition Director at Infosecurity Group , said : “ Human skill and expertise was singled out as the most important element of a cyber-resilience approach in our November poll . Lack of skills , combined with a rise in remote working and shrinking budgets , could prove to be a ‘ perfect storm ’ for smaller businesses .

“ If they are ultimately responsible for their own cyber-resilience maturity , as most believe , achieving this without the relevant expertise and resources will be nigh-on impossible . The constraints SMBs are operating under won ’ t be going anywhere – but enhancing their resilience must be a key priority for 2021 .”

Cyber-resilience will form a core theme for Infosecurity Europe and will be covered extensively as part of the conference programme .

Drawing 3,649 responses , the Infosecurity Europe Twitter poll was conducted during November 2020 . Infosecurity Europe also asked its community of CISOs and analysts for their views on cyber-resilience in small businesses .

The three questions Infosecurity Europe asked in its poll were :

• How has the impact of the pandemic fuelled your spending on cyber-resilience in your small business this year ?

• Who should be responsible for educating and supporting smaller businesses in cyber-resilience ?

• What has had the biggest negative impact on cyber-resilience within small businesses this year ? �

THE CONSTRAINTS SMBS ARE OPERATING UNDER WON ’ T BE GOING ANYWHERE – BUT ENHANCING THEIR RESILIENCE MUST BE A KEY PRIORITY FOR 2021 .