SME and Company Formation at Risk

In Tuesday’s post we discussed recent changes to the Data Protection Act and how small business and company formation may be effected. However, in the light of news that nearly eighty per cent of all small businesses have been the subject of some form of security breach over the past year, maybe companies should be looking a little closer to home, when it comes to protecting their data.

The survey, conducted by business insurance firm ADS, found that since 2008 the number of companies who have been put at risk due to security breeches has risen by almost forty per cent. The main types of risks were software viruses, attacks from staff and stealing all of which has cost the SME sector billions of pounds.

Chris Holmes, CEO of manufacturing firm CHS, comments; “I was not remotely surprised by the results of the survey. I formed our company in 1999 and security breeches have increased year on year. Obviously this is a consequence of the fact that my company, like most, is extremely dependant on computers and online and is therefore more open to risk. However, I have also noticed an increasing amount of staff committing fraud.”
Tom Barnes, director of ADS, comments; “There a number of ways to ensure that your company is protected. However, it is important you insure against what could happen if your company’s security is breeched.”