SMBs in Malaysia to Continue Investing in IT Security and Storage in 2009

SMBs are concerned over data breaches, but lack attention on protecting information

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – April 16, 2009 – Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today released the Malaysia findings of its 2009 Global Small and Mid-sized Business (SMB) Security and Storage survey, revealing that 88 percent of IT spending by SMBs in Malaysia will increase (58 percent) or remain the same (30 percent) this year despite the current economic uncertainty. Online storage, upgrading operating systems, and remote control desktop and management tools are top IT investment priorities in Malaysia this year.

The survey also revealed that the top three security concerns of SMBs in Malaysia are data breaches (78 percent), viruses (76 percent) and phishing (74 percent). However, despite the growing awareness and concerns, there is still a relatively low adoption of basic security measures in Malaysia where 62 percent do not have a data loss prevention solution and 64 percent have improper or out-of-date security solutions, which is the highest in Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ).

Small and medium businesses usually have limited time, expertise and money to secure and manage their information from external and internal threats. Often, more pressing business needs will take precedence over security, backup and recovery for computer and network systems, leaving businesses vulnerable to data and system losses and causing serious damage and business interruption,” said Bernard Kwok, Symantec’s senior vice president for Asia Pacific and Japan.

“By automating key processes such as backup and recovery, endpoint protection and data loss prevention, SMBs can improve cost efficiencies and streamline manageability that allows them more resources and time to focus on their core business.”

The survey further reaffirmed a disparity between the security concerns and priorities for SMBs in Malaysia. Despite data breaches being their top-three security concern, SMBs in Malaysia tend to place extreme importance on protecting their infrastructure, such as network (82 percent), server (80 percent) and remote connection (60 percent), instead of securing the information itself.

“Cybercriminals are going after confidential information that can be misused for financial gains, and are less focused on the systems containing the information. Therefore, SMBs should focus on securing and managing the information itself by getting a more comprehensive understanding of their information risks.” said Suzie Tan, Symantec’s managing director for Malaysia.

She adds, “The increasing convergence of security, storage and systems management technologies makes it easier for SMBs in Malaysia to ensure that their information is protected completely across the business.”

Findings on storage showed that 80 percent of SMBs in Malaysia are extremely concerned with backup and recovery of data, followed by disaster recovery planning and strategy (78 percent), and archiving data and emails (54 percent). This translates into consistent actions among the SMBs surveyed as 60 percent have deployed desktop backup and recovery solutions, and 56 percent perform backup on a daily or more frequent basis.