Channel adapting to SMB cyber attack risk, says ComputerLinks

The channel is adapting to the shifting focus of cyber attacks on SMBs, says distie Computerlinks.

Reports have been increasing of cybercriminals turning their attention away from larger organisations, and tailoring their attacks towards the SMB community.

Part of this has been the increasing sophistication of the widely available tools used by cyber crims.  Trusteer recently told TechEye of the threat posed by off the shelf web injects that can be tailored towards attacking individual businesses.

Vendors are keen to highlight the changing landscape, with Symantec claiming last week that 36 percent of online attacks are targeted towards SMBs. Kaspersky Labs meanwhile told ChannelBiz recently that SMBs need to start waking up the evolving threat they are facing.

Even government spooks have been outlining the risk faced by businesses of all shapes and sizes.

According to David Caughtry, director of core technologies at IT security distributor ComputerLinks, SMBs will come under greater attack as they become “more sophisticated and prolific”.

“By the nature of the way that the cyber attack market is evolving it is a natural thing that they will progress down from the traditional cyber attack market into that SMB market.

“What people might see is an easier target, as opposed to the enterprises that perhaps have quite a lot of strength in depth in terms of security defences.

“It would be difficult to say that yes we are seeing marked increase on factual information, but I think that the way that the market evolves, those SMBs will come at greater risk from cyber attacks as they become more sophisticated and prolific.”

With a healthy mix of resellers servicing both the SMB and larger enterprises, Caughtry says that the channel is highly adaptable to the changes posed by a shifting landscape for cyber attacks.

“We are seeing an increase of cyber attacks into the SMB market, but I think that the channel is adapting and evolving to address the needs of those SMBs.

“The vendors, distribution and reseller community – they have evolved to address those demands that are happening in the market.

“It is an evolution of the channel, and the beauty of the channel is that we are very quick to address an emerging need in the market.

“There is a lot of flexibility in the channel so it means that we don’t have to wait six or twelve months to meet the need of the market, we can do it very rapidly.”