The recent COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent government movement restrictions imposed across the world have led to an acceleration of the uptake of digital technologies as well as the digital transformation of firms to cope with the new realities. Such new technologies include the move to the cloud, remote collaboration tools, and technologies related to supporting a remote workforce.
However, something that can be left on the backburner, especially in the case of SMEs and smaller businesses, is cybersecurity. As far back as 2016, Symantec and the SEC had reported that 60% of all cyberattacks or breaches were aimed at SMEs, while 68% of SMEs have no systematic approach towards cybersecurity. More worryingly, 60% of SMEs who has been attacked shut down within 6 months of the attack.
In Europe, the statistics are no better. According to insurance firm Markel Direct, which had surveyed 1000 UK SMEs on this issue, 51% of respondents had experienced a cybersecurity breach. The most common of these breaches were malware (24%), data breaches (16%), and phishing (15%). Of the SMEs who had been attacked, 68% reported the cost of the breaches was up to £5,000 (~RM27,400). Of the remainder, 4% reported losses in excess of £25,000 (~RM137,100).
ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity) had interviewed EU SMEs during the pandemic. The top threats to EU SMEs identified by the survey included phishing (the top threat), followed by Web-based attacks, general malware, malicious insider threats, and Denial of Service (DoS).
According to ENISA’s survey, 90% of SMEs stated that security incidents would lead to serious negative impacts on their business within a week, with 57% noting that bankruptcy or cessation of business would be the most likely outcome.
However, across the globe, SMEs do have issues with implementing cybersecurity. For instance, of the respondents in the Markel Direct survey that did not have cybersecurity in place, cost was the main reason behind this, with 26% of respondents stating that they thought this was an ‘unnecessary cost’.
The same is true in New Zealand. While 28.7% of medium-sized businesses planned to invest in security and risk management in 2021/2022, only 4.2% of smaller businesses (fewer than 20 staff) intended to do the same. Approximately 55% of such businesses do not have processes in place to prevent a cyberattack, while a mere 38% believe their businesses invests enough into cybersecurity.
Malaysian SMEs exhibit similar behaviours. A 2019 study by insurance company Chubb revealed that Malaysian SMEswere not prepared to face cyberattacks and cyber threats. While 84% of Malaysian SMEs had experienced cybersecurity incidents in the past year, 67% nevertheless believed that large corporations are more at risk of cyberattacks than small businesses.
The MCMC had taken note of the need for SMEs to beef up their cybersecurity defences, in light of the alarming rise in security incidents. As SMEs contribute a large percentage to the nation’s GDP, the MCMC stressed that it was imperative that the appropriate safeguards were put in place.
Telecommunications service providers (telcos) can play a vital role here, with various telcos across the world, offering various security-related services for businesses.
For its part, Celcom, the pioneer mobile telecommunications provider in Malaysia, provides the Cyber Guard Device protection service to help SMEs safeguard mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets – devices that have become increasingly prevalent and important in today’s business landscape.
Cyber Guard Device encompasses a range of device security and management solutions, using machine learning to defend businesses on a device, network, and application level. Cyber Guard Device also helps defend against phishing, allowing this subscription service to offer total protection on mobile phones, tablets and more (anything running on Android and iOS).
Starting from RM16/month per licence, Cyber Guard Device comes in a range of subscription levels starting from Basic and moving across to Standard, Advanced, Pro, and Max tiers. The Basic plan is powered by Zimperium, and allows businesses to install an enterprise-class, on-device security engine on Android and iOS devices that protect them against harmful WiFis and malicious apps. Cyber Guard Device uses patented, behaviour-based analytics on the device to detect threats in real-time.
Cyber Guard Device integrates with various leading enterprise UEM solutions, including VMware Workspace One, BlackBerry, Citrix XenMobile, Microsoft Intune, MobileIron, Jamf, SOTI, and Samsung Knox provide seamless deployment experience.
The more advanced plans feature a cloud-based service that SMes can use to manage devices as well as the apps and content on these devices. This enables them to provide their employees with access to apps and corporate data from their mobile devices, whether these devices are owned by the business, or owned by the employees themselves (BYOD, or bring-your-own-device).
For more information about Celcom’s 24 x7 Cyber Guard Device protection, please click here or visit https://business.celcom.com.my/cyber-security/cyber-guard-device.
