The smaller the company, the greater the chances it doesn’t have a dedicated cybersecurity team. This is according to a new report from Python development specialists STX Next.
Polling 250 CTOs around the world for the report, STX Next found that just 20 percent of companies have an internal team dedicated to cybersecurity.
Larger companies with greater resources are far more likely to enjoy the benefits of an in-house team, however. Almost half of businesses between 300 and 1,000 employees have a dedicated cybersecurity team, rising to 80 percent among companies with more than 1,000 employees.
But all of the companies polled, regardless of their size, have one trait in common: a reliance on external help. Overall, 40 percent outsource at least some IT functions. Roughly half of organizations (50 percent) with 100+ employees use external help, rising to 75 percent for organizations with 300 – 1,000 people, and to 60 percent for companies with 1,000+ employees.
“It seems that many organizations still consider security as a cost rather than an investment,” said Maciej Dziergwa, CEO of STX Next.
“For smaller businesses, this is understandable to an extent, as hiring and maintaining a dedicated security team can be a significant cost relative to the size of the entire company. Coupled with limited awareness of potential security issues and their emphasis on fast time to market, this could be pushing smaller firms to postpone important work on security. Given the persistent danger of data breaches, this is something for leaders at smaller companies to think about.”
