SME security in the digital age

The past few years has shown an increasing level of concern by governments, policy makers and the ICT Industry over SME's reluctance to engage in the digital economy. This will have an impact on the economy as a whole. Current data shows the uptake in the use of ICT technology has not been expanding at the rate expected. The security issues and concerns of SME's owner managers have been shown to contribute to the lack of uptake of the more complex ICT required for e-business engagement. Many small organisations, in both the commercial and the not for profit sector have a different approach to prioritising and decision making. This is reflected in their use of ICT systems and as a consequence has an impact upon ICT security. Whilst some of this under performance in the digital economy may be related to the management style and lack of ICT expertise of the companies the part played by the ICT service suppliers must also be investigated. Evaluation of the traditional security threats to organisations and individuals is undertaken to recommend suitable responses to these threats. By evaluating, through a series of case studies continued from a previous work, how the ICT service industry currently provides support for such organisations and how the products they offer satisfy or fail to match the needs of the SME's. From this it is possible to take a new look at how the provision of security support for the smaller end of the market should be undertaken in the future. From this study security service providers can relate their products and services to the functional needs of the SME giving them the ability to respond better to the needs of the small organisation.