Paychex’s researchers recently surveyed small businesses on how they were coping with cybersecurity. The study concluded that nearly all the business owners understand the importance of cybersecurity, but a staggering 27% of them are not using any software-based solution to prevent cyberattacks or potential breaches.

A software security solution is the primary security measure that most businesses are using. The study, which polled 500 business owners from organizations with 500 or fewer employees, revealed that one in every four business owners don’t have any security software in place for their enterprise.

Nearly 73% of business owners agreed to have implemented a security software online based on their requirements they are subdivided into the following categories:

  • Approximately 48% of respondents use on-premise software solutions for cybersecurity. A software solution gives small scale organizations better control over the security of data, which is generally handled by in-house IT-staff.
  • An estimated 11% of business owners reported using cloud-based software for their cybersecurity needs
  • The remaining 14% are using both on-premise and cloud-based cybersecurity solutions.

Bradley Schaufenbuel, Chief Information Officer, Paychex opined that if the companies want to secure data in these modern times, they need to be watchful of threats. It’s reassuring that business owners are taking steps from employee training to software investments to defend against cyberattacks or breach threats. But it’s not once-and-done commitment.

Business owners were even quizzed about their existing cybersecurity policies. Approximately 72% of them regularly reviewed their cybersecurity plans, and 70% have a clear data security policy. Around 81% of the business owners felt their employees understood why data security was indispensable, and 60% said that they train their employees on every issue.

The survey was then broken down based on the number of employees in an organization. It predicted that 89% of businesses with 100 to 500 employees, and only 59% of businesses with 1–19 employees are likely to invest in training their employees on data security.

The gulf between the numbers indicates that the relatively smaller business owners think that their companies won’t be a target when it comes to data breaches. The numbers say otherwise. The 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report by Verizon observed that 43% of data breaches impacted small businesses.