Ten years ago, a malware attack may have been annoying for SMBs, but it likely would not have affected their customer service. Today’s attacks, however, are far more likely to hit SMBs’ bottom line. Why? Customers don’t care what the problem is; if the network is down they will go to a competitor rather than wait for the problem to be resolved. This is the hard reality that should be prompting SMBs to make network security a bigger priority.

That was the resounding sentiment in a recent virtual Symantec-hosted roundtable discussion of SMBs and cyber attacks. During the roundtable, three small businesses shared the challenges they face in defending against malware. I sat in on this discussion and heard firsthand just how common security incidents are for SMBs.

Symantec customers, including Richard Johnson from Seattle-based Coddington Construction...

After a successful beta period, we are thrilled to share that Symantec Endpoint Protection 12 Small Business Edition is now available! The feedback we have received from our partners and customers on the beta test has been extremely positive. Participants installed the beta on more than 14,000 endpoints and provided Symantec with input on everything from minor bug fixes to requests for new features and function changes.

Small businesses have become very appealing to cybercriminals, and it is more important than ever to deploy a technology like Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition . These days, businesses are not just confined to four walls. Employees are often in the field or traveling for their...

If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a million times—hackers do not care what the size of your business is. They’re after your valuables, and SMBs are increasingly appealing targets because they usually have fewer cyber defenses. The results of Symantec’s 2011 Internet Security Threat Report certainly point to this trend, as I discussed in a post earlier this month.

Verizon’s 2011 Data Breach Investigations Report—released this week—tells a similar story. Verizon reports that while the total number of attacks is on the rise, the number of records exposed per breach declined. Cybercriminals are shifting their focus to small and medium businesses.

The folks from Symantec’s encryption team have weighed in on the report at the In Defense of Data blog. There are some very interesting insights...

With all of the options in the marketplace today, small businesses must secure customer trust and loyalty to remain competitive. Regardless of the industry, their customers are looking for the best quality, value and service and they will quickly move on if their needs are not met. They also want to know that their personal information, like their credit card numbers and bank account information, is protected when they deal with a small business.

Today, so much of our valuable information resides on computers. It’s how we work. So it is expected that small businesses would be concerned about keeping their customers’ personal and financial information safe. In fact, according to the recent Symantec 2010 SMB Information Protection survey, almost three-quarters of SMBs are somewhat/extremely concerned about the loss of crucial business information. This does not come as a surprise when you consider that 42 percent have actually lost confidential or proprietary...