Panda Security, the Cloud Security Company, announced the results of the United States edition of its second annual International Barometer of Security at small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The study, which surveyed nearly 10,000 SMBs around the globe and more than 1,500 in the United States, revealed that 46 percent of U.S. SMBs have fallen victim to cybercrime, up two percent from last year's survey.

The 2010 survey revealed there has been little to no improvement from last year in SMBs using industry standard protection methods. Thirty-one percent of businesses are operating without anti-spam, 23 percent have no anti-spyware and 15 percent have no firewall.

"Many SMBs simply don't have the resources in terms of budget, time and human capital to devote to protecting their computers and sensitive data," said Sean-Paul Correll, threat researcher at PandaLabs. "The study results are proof that IT service providers and vendors have an important role to play in educating small businesses on threats, and helping them determine the best way to protect themselves."

Additional findings from the study related to businesses' investment in security and malware infection rates include the following:

Investment in Security

•Security budgets remain about the same as last year, although when asked if they had anyone dedicated to security management, only 63 percent of companies in the U.S. confirmed they had;

•Thirteen percent of U.S. SMBs are operating without security systems in place at all. Fifty-seven percent of this group reported the reason for lacking security was that it is viewed as not important or necessary;

•Of the companies that do have protection in place, 36 percent of U.S. SMBs said they were using free solutions that are designed for home users. Ninety-seven percent said they have installed an anti-virus solution on their computers. However, 12 percent admitted these systems were out of date;

•The most widely used security solutions are anti-virus and firewall products, while anti-spam solutions are not extensively implemented.

"Even though we highly recommend free security software such as Panda's Cloud Antivirus to consumers, the free software available on the market is not sufficient to secure even smaller corporate networks from all sides," said Correll. "SMBs should invest in security solutions that protect their servers and network communications, and include advanced security features such as centralized and policy-based management."

Infections

•The infection ratio at U.S. companies has slightly increased since last year (46 percent in 2010 compared to 44 percent in 2009). It has dropped in Europe (49 percent in 2010 compared to 58 percent in 2009);

•U.S. SMBs named the Internet and USBs/external memory devices as the top methods for computer infections to enter the company (32 percent). E-mail (21 percent) and downloads/P2P (14 percent) were the other popular infection points;

•Viruses are the most popular threat SMBs are encountering (45 percent), followed by spyware (23 percent).