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"A staggering 71% of small businesses that suffer from a cyber attack never recover - it's fatal," said Rowan Trollope, group president of SMB and .cloud at Symantec. "As the fastest adopters of cloud technologies, such as file sharing, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) need to use safe practices, especially when using a solution that might not be built for businesses. As employees increasingly adopt consumer cloud services at work, the risk to SMBs only grows." 
 
Symantec's 2011 SMB File Sharing Survey found that SMB employees are increasingly adopting unmanaged, personal-use online file sharing solutions without permission from IT, part of the broader trend of the consumerization of IT in which the adoption of online services for use on personal mobile devices blurs the lines between work and play. These early-adopter behaviors - like those driving the use of file sharing technology - are making organizations vulnerable to security threats and potential data loss.

Applied Research fielded this survey in November 2011, speaking with decision-makers at 1,325 SMB organizations worldwide with 5 to 500 employees. 

The adoption of online file sharing by 74% of respondents is driven by the aim to bolster SMB stakeholders' own productivity. That is why 61% of respondents reported employees to be somewhat-to-extremely influential when it comes to adopting file sharing solutions internally, on par with mobile device usage (63 percent), PC/laptop/tablet usage (64 percent) and social media usage (53 percent). 

The potential risks that respondents are most concerned about are sharing of confidential information using unapproved solutions (44%), malware (44%), loss of confidential or proprietary information (43%), breach of confidential information (41%), embarrassment or damage to brand/reputation (37%), and violation of regulatory rules (34%).

Moreover, the lack of policy enforcement also enhances risks for many respondents as 22% of respondents have not implemented policies restricting how employees can access and share files. 

Employee behavior around sharing large files indicate further potential for security risk as 27% of respondents indicate they would search online and download a free solution while 42% would use a solution suggested by a customer, contractor or partner. Other actions they would take include asking IT for help (51%) and using the IT system in place (33%).

Many of the files shared internally and externally are significantly increasing in size. One in seven (14%) respondents reported their organization shares files averaging more than 1 GB in size while three years ago, only 6% reported doing so.

Respondents predicted that one year from now, 37% of SMB organizations will have employees working remotely (up from 22% three years ago and 32% today), and 32% will have employees who work from home (up from 20% three years ago, and 28% today).
 
Based on the survey results, Symantec recommends that SMBs:

• Implement centralized file storage and management with a secure web-based system that is accessible regardless of device or location so that companies protect data outside the office walls
• Implement access controls and permissions to keep private files safe and separate from work content
• Maintain oversight into how and when business files are shared
• Implement a scalable system that can grow with the business