Data Security Remains Top IT Concern for Small Businesses and Others

A recent study shows 43% of data breaches involve small businesses. As a result, it’s no surprise that data security is the top IT concern for 2020.

Netrix IT Trends 2020 provides more details. For example, 74% of organizations voted data security as their top IT priority in 2020. And 43% of organizations named data privacy as their top IT goal.

Small businesses are increasingly becoming the favorite target of hackers. For example, findings in the Netrix’s report are a true reflection of the cybersecurity threat businesses face today.

Being a small business owner yourself, you must check your cyber readiness to ensure data security and data privacy in 2020 and beyond.

Data Security Tops 2020 Information Technology Priorities

Irrespective of sizes, verticals, and geographical locations, most organizations voted data security as the top IT priority. And other IT priorities, as found in the survey, were automating manual tasks, data privacy, digital transformation, and filling the skill shortage.

Overall, 74% of organizations cited data security as their top IT priority for 2020, according to the survey.

If you look at industry-wide data, you will find that security remains the top IT priority. However, the number fluctuates.

For example, data security was named the top IT priority for 2020 by:

• 91% of organizations in the retail industry
• 72% of organizations in the education and health care industry
• 80% of organizations in the finance industry
• 69% of organizations in the manufacturing industry

The number of organizations choosing data security as the top IT concern also varied with the number of employees organizations have.

For example, 69% of organizations with 1-100 employees called data security the top concern for 2020.

And 83% of organizations with 50,001+ employees cited data security as their top priority.

Data security was voted top IT concern by 76% of IT/system administrators.  59% of CIO/IT directors, 90% CISCO/security officer/compliance officers and 100% of chief data officers.

How to Protect Your Valuate Data

Around 36% of small businesses have been a victim of data breaches in 2019. And a data breach can cost you $200,000 or may put you out of business. As a result, you need to make a robust plan to keep your data safe from hackers.

For example, Here are some tips that can help:

• Educate yourself and your employees on the best cybersecurity practices
• Keep all your software applications updated
• Make sure that third-party vendors must comply with your cybersecurity policies
• Encrypt critical data
• Invest in cybersecurity

Enhance the security of your data. You should try to include automation in the data security process. As a result, your IT manager can have ample time to do the actual job, not doing the more petty tasks that can be easily automated.

Steve Dickson, CEO of Netwrix, said, “Not surprisingly, data security is a top priority for the majority of organizations. There are several factors that go into a successful data security process. The first is automating current processes to free up time for data security projects. Another is to research and deploy a data security solution,”

“Be sure your solution offers automated data classification, because it is the optimal way to enhance data security and reduce your attack surface without additional effort by the IT team,” he added.

Ramifications of any data breach can be severe. As a result, you should also think about taking good cyber insurance to safeguard your business from any unforeseen event.

About the Survey

Netwrix conducted this survey in October 2019. It included 1045 professionals from different verticals. All respondents were asked to pick up to five top IT priorities for 2020 from a predefined list. Respondents also had an opportunity to add their options. For more details about the survey, click here.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "Data Security Remains Top IT Concern for Small Businesses and Others" was first published on Small Business Trends