In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) analysed the capacity of EU SMEs to cope with the cybersecurity challenges posed by the pandemic and identified best practices to address these challenges.
According to a publication, the COVID-19 crisis has shown how important the internet and computers in general are for SMEs to keep their business. In order to survive the pandemic and continue doing business, many SMEs had to take business continuity measures, such as adapting to cloud services, upgrading their internet services, improving their websites and enabling staff to work remotely.
This report shows how many of the current cybersecurity challenges have been further affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and are now more critical to mitigate it. The recommendations set out in this report to enable SMEs to address these cybersecurity challenges are shaped in this direction. The recommendations in this report have been developed on the basis of enhanced desktop research. This research was expanded with a two-month survey where 249 European SMEs shared their feedback on the state of their digital security and crisis preparedness, such as COVID-19, followed by targeted interviews with selected participants.
Research found that the biggest challenges for SMEs are the low awareness of the threats posed to their business by poor cybersecurity, the costs of implementing cybersecurity measures often combined with a lack of dedicated budget, the availability of ICT cybersecurity experts, the lack of appropriate guidance targeting the SME sector and low management support.
This report provides advice to SMEs on cybersecurity, but also proposals for measures that Member States should consider in order to support SMEs in improving their cybersecurity position. It is accompanied by a handbook providing 12 high-level practical steps for SMEs to better secure SME systems and businesses.
⚠ disclaimer: The text has been automatically translated from the European platform Digital Skills and Jobs. If you have found errors in the text, please contact digikoalice@npi.cz