If we often hear about cyberattacks on large companies, Quebec SMEs are not immune either since six out of ten of them have also suffered an attack carried out by cybercriminals over the last year, according to a recent KPMG survey.
The majority of these companies (74%) also believe that their sometimes older IT systems make them more vulnerable to this type of attack, revealed the report released Tuesday.
“Small and medium-sized businesses have many competing business priorities and their capital and resources are often limited, making them a target,” said Guillaume Clément, partner, Cybersecurity Services, and president of KPMG Egyde Conseils inc.
Two thirds of these SMEs believe they do not have the qualified staff to monitor and manage cybersecurity risks. Only 38% of them believe that their employees have adequate training to deal with it.
“While many SMBs don’t think they can afford to hire full-time cybersecurity teams, they have several options. They cannot afford to leave their operations exposed to criminals,” stressed Mr. Clément.
He says in addition to employee training, restricting access to essential network elements and partitioning backup files from the main network are other ways to protect against these attacks.
The survey was conducted among 700 SME owners or managers between August 30 and September 25, 2023.