Dark Reading Revamps SMB Security Tech Center

When it comes to security, small businesses are probably in the worst position of any entity on the Web. On one hand, they have more valuable assets -- and less protection from their creditors -- than any consumer. On the other hand, they have fewer resources -- and, usually, fewer skills -- to defend their data than any large enterprise.

Current research supports this thesis. According to Javelin's "2011 Small Business Owners Identity Fraud Report," fraud targeted at SMBs and their owners totaled more than $8 billion in 2010. Banks, merchants, and other providers absorbed at least $5.43 billion of that loss, while the cost to victims was $2.61 billion.

This week, Dark Reading is ramping up its coverage of small business security issues through our SMB Security Tech Center, a subsite of Dark Reading that focuses on threats, issues, and solutions for smaller enterprises.

As it has in the past, the SMB Security Tech Center will offer a closer look at the types of attacks made on small businesses, the cost of those attacks, and the potential defenses. Dark Reading contributing writer Ericka Chickowski began this coverage last week with an in-depth piece about the three types of malware attacks that are most frequently found in SMBs. In the weeks ahead, you’ll see more such coverage, and John Sawyer, author of our Evil Bytes blog, will offer hands-on insights from his practice as a front-line penetration tester.

We believe that as SMBs become more frequent targets of online attacks, all of our audiences will benefit from greater coverage of the small business arena. Please let us know how we're doing with our coverage of this emerging topic area.

-- Tim Wilson, Editor, Dark Reading