Focus on information security

A third of Russian companies suffer from data breaches.

In 2019, 34% of large and 27% of smaller Russian companies have been affected by data breaches. “This indicator is up 12% year-on-year,” says a survey by Kaspersky Lab. The breaches are caused by poor protection solutions, lack of skilled IT professionals, and low employee awareness of information security guidelines.


Kaspersky Lab’s recent survey demonstrates that 34% of large Russian companies have been affected by data breaches in 2019, which is much higher than in the similar survey conducted a year ago with a quarter of corporations facing the problem.

In 2019, 34% of large Russian companies have been affected by data breaches.

A similar trend is observed in the small business: in 2019, data breaches have affected 27% of companies with under 50 employees – up 12% year-on-year.

Kaspersky Lab believes that the problem stems from either poor or even non-existent solutions to protect organisations against the threat. Every fourth small enterprise (26%) uses only basic protection solutions. Such products have no capabilities (for instance, server protection or centralised control of all connected devices) required to secure corporate data. At the time of data breach, 29% of smaller companies had no proper protection solutions in place. The same number of surveyed companies stated that their IT staff did not possess sufficient skills, while employees had little awareness of information security guidelines.

Small businesses often rely on basic solutions that are unable to deliver security at the company level.

Even very small organisations have something to lose, such as sensitive data.

“Smaller companies are often focused on how to make their business work and grow – just like they should be. They may not have cybersecurity among their top priorities, however, even very small organisations have something to lose, such as sensitive data. But the good news is that to be able to protect themselves both from malware and human factor risks, these smaller companies don’t need to invest much or hire advanced specialists. It is only a matter of choosing the right security product,” comments Andrey Dankevich, Solution Business Lead, Kaspersky.

The 2019 survey shows that 51% of small businesses – vs 43% in 2018 – are willing to invest in information security, and 58% of respondents agree that data breach response requires more meticulous planning (50% in 2018).

Download PDF

Other publications