Despite cybersecurity spending growing year-on-year with almost nine percent growth in 2019, security budgets for SMBs and enterprise have fallen below the average spend.
The figures came from Kaspersky IT Security Calculator, which revealed that 45 percent of SMBs and 50 percent of enterprises have fallen below the average spend, which is $205,000 for small and medium and $8 million for enterprise businesses.
Knowing how much money is spent on IT security across the industry allows companies to understand where they are in the market, to compare their budget with other players and even improve planning. The Kaspersky IT Security Calculator helps businesses receive these insights. It is a free web tool where IT security managers can view the average budget for cybersecurity in their region and industry and compare this to budgets in their organisation.
Globally, IT security budgets are demonstrating positive dynamics: as a number of analyst reports show, they continue to grow year on year. Kaspersky’s own survey of almost five thousand organisations across the world confirms this trend with 70 percent of respondents showing they expect their IT security budget to increase in the next three years.
However, statistics from usage of the Kaspersky IT Security Calculator in October 2018- 2019 revealed that some businesses are not keeping up with this trend, as their IT security spending is even lower than average. This is seen in 45 percent of calculations for SMBs and 50 percent for enterprise users of the tool.
Overall, budgets for SMBs were reviewed more actively (46 percent) than for enterprises (38 percent) and very small companies (16 percent). For small and medium businesses the budget issue can be even more complicated: it’s not only about money but also about the alignment of the budget planning process. It can be challenging because of demands on human resources and expertise in relevant cybersecurity risks and protection methods for different business services.
“Budget planning is a very important process for companies as proper investments ensure a company is ready to meet current cybersecurity challenges and threats. Though it may be a complex task which demands a good understanding of business needs towards cybersecurity, how to address them and how much it can cost,” said Sergey Martsynkyan, Head of B2B Product Marketing, Kaspersky. “We at Kaspersky try to give organisations insights to help them with this process. Along with the report on IT security economics we prepare annually, the IT Security Calculator gives a glance on average cybersecurity spending, as well as specific threats and advice on protection measures”.
The Kaspersky IT Security Calculator website with threat statistics and recommended protection is available here.
