Making Security Manageable for the Midsize Organization

Despite knowing the importance of security and the risk that the threat landscape represents, our midsize customers tell us that they can’t afford to spend more than two hours a week addressing security requirements. We have an expression for it: the “mid-market security paradox.” On the one hand, you have limited, if not scarce, time and resources for managing security. On the other hand, you face the same challenges as the large enterprises.

In fact, in some respects your challenges are even greater. Half of all small to midsize businesses believe that they are not well-known enough or valuable enough to be victims of cybercrime, according to a recent research report by McAfee; but in fact cybercriminals often target this exact segment. They count on the fact that smaller businesses have fewer resources to devote to security.

The current economy only adds to the pressure. At a time when you’re tightening budgets and stretching resources, cybercriminals are stepping up their attacks. The economic crisis has even spawned an online system for buying and selling customer data, patents, and other proprietary information, enabling employees to more easily profit from theft. Organized crime now takes the lead, developing ever more sophisticated tools to attack businesses through email, via websites, or directly against company networks and endpoints and profit at your expense.