intelligent

Cybersecurity will be a top priority for organisations of all sizes this year as digtalisation strategies are ramped up . But with such a complex and continually evolving threat landscape , it can be difficult to know which areas to prioritise . Here , Andy Heather VP , Centrify , outlines the cybersecurity trends of which SMEs need to be aware in 2021 .

UNFORTUNATELY , SMALL AND

MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISES

ARE CURRENTLY SOME OF THE MOST

VULNERABLE ORGANISATIONS

TO THE SURGING CYBER THREATSCAPE .

YBERSECURITY ’ HAS

BEEN surging exponentially in importance year-onyear as dependency on information technology , Big Data and the Internet increases in fortitude and expands to new industries and organisations of all sizes .

Over the last year especially , as COVID-19 forced millions of office workers into a remote environment , the gap between security provisions in business , or lack thereof , compared to the severity of the cyber threatscape , has never been wider .

This is because the uncertain climate caused by COVID-19 has stripped organisations of their resources and staff , while simultaneously providing cybercriminals with more opportunity for attack , via newly remote workers , unsecured home devices and dispersed networks of computers and endpoints , for example .

Unfortunately , small and medium sized enterprises are currently some of the most vulnerable organisations to the surging cyber threatscape , with a recent report even revealing that UK SMEs face more than 10,000 serious cyberattacks a day , with individual attacks poised to set back UK SMEs by £ 1,300 on average .

Here I will delve into some expected trends and what businesses can do to beat the curve , stay ahead and remain safe .

The cloud

Cloud adoption in 2021 will continue to grow rapidly amongst SMEs as more companies look to leverage the scalability , flexibility and efficiency enabled by cloud infrastructure and SaaS solutions .

In fact , a recent Centrify study revealed the remote work shift rapidly accelerated half of companies ’ cloud transformation plans . For those who were not cloud-first , the pandemic revealed a glaring reality : businesses must embrace the cloud as a necessity in the modern tech landscape rather than view it as an option .

Looking to 2021 and beyond , almost all businesses will most likely rely on cloud