As of 2016, two thirds, or 64% of employees choose to use their personal smartphone for work, and according to Samsung, and in 2020, 61% of enterprises expect their employees to be remotely available, even if they aren’t provided a company phone. With the BYOD market expected to reach over $350 billion by 2022, BYOD is a trend which shows no signs of slowing down. Why should it, with studies showing that BYOD employees work more hours per day and per week, thus earning more money for their companies – many of which don’t have BYOD or reimbursement policies in place for employees.
Small and medium sized enterprises (50-249 employees) have an estimated 71% of their workforce using BYOD, and according to IFC and World Bank, globally there are at least 149mm micro, small and medium businesses.
According to Xiaobo Zhang, Sr. Research Fellow at IFPRI’s Development Strategy and Governance Division says that China’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) generate 90% of employment for the massive country, and account for 70% of their GDP. Of these businesses, 14% of surveyed firms are struggling to survive the month, with a full 50% hoping to survive the next three months. The USA has seen over 15% of their small businesses fail according to Assistant Professor Samantha Paustian-Underdahl with Florida State University. "Small businesses and non-profits have taken a huge hit during this time, with nearly 30 percent of our sample needing to close temporarily or permanently as of early May," Paustian-Underdahl said.
Robert Pizarro, VP of Commercial Specialty at AmTrust Financial Services says, "Remote working has accelerated during this time, but a lot of businesses – especially larger ones – have been prepared because they have incident response plans and are able to respond to a breach quickly by going through their policies and procedures. Small businesses oftentimes don’t have incident response plans, so if their employees are working remotely and an employee has been breached, it’s very difficult for them to respond...."
The world is becoming increasingly and grudgingly aware of the dangers posed to all businesses by malicious ransomware and malware, increasingly designed to take advantage of the newly-mobile workforce who have no choice but to suddenly rely on BYOD devices as a lifeline. Why are SME’s so vulnerable to infiltration? Many smaller organizations don’t have the budget or access to the skilled IT security staff employed in larger firms. They also don’t have the network and cloud security solutions required to protect a largely remote workforce – relying on employee knowledge of risks and service providers to protect their data transmission and company and customer information. This has pushed many organizations to take advantage of managed services with IR services being a crucial element. According to Larry Burt and Talia Colwell at BizTech, "Having experts orchestrate solutions can provide organizations access to things like automation, allowing small businesses to optimize the networking they already have."
What is Incident Response (IR)?
So, what is incident response and why is it critical for SMEs? Digital Guardian defines Incident Response, or IR Services, as "a term used to describe the process by which an organization handles a data breach or cyberattack, including the way the organization attempts to manage the consequences of the attack or breach (the "incident"). Ultimately, the goal is to effectively manage the incident so that the damage is limited and both recovery time and costs, as well as collateral damage such as brand reputation, are kept at a minimum."
Why Sangfor?
Seeking the added protection and security of IR services? Look no further. Sangfor Technologies IR services provide vital protection to their customers with the added convenience of tiered packages designed to work for every enterprise, vertical, size and budget. In the event of an attack, Sangfor IR starts with a security assessment which will inevitably locate the malware, which can then be contained. After identification of the malware/ransomware family, which determines what steps need to be taken to stop the attack, Sangfor IR professionals trace and block the attack source and reinforce network defences to mitigate risk for further attack.
Smaller enterprises can choose between the Essential or Standard IR Packages, which provide simple security incident assistance and reports or even further vulnerability assessment and remediation assistance before an attack occurs.
For more information on Sangfor IR Packages and how they can protect your organization from ever growing cyber threat, contact a local Sangfor representative today or visit our website at www.sangfor.com.
If you believe you’ve been attacked by ransomware, it’s not too late. Contact Sangfor today for immediate IR services.
Sangfor Technologies is an APAC-based, global leading vendor of IT infrastructure solutions specializing in Network Security and Cloud Computing. Visit us at www.sangfor.com to learn more about Sangfor’s Security solutions, and let Sangfor make your IT simpler, more secure and valuable.
