Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form the backbone of the European economy—but they are also particularly vulnerable. Like large corporations, they are frequent targets of cyberattacks, yet often lack the resources for dedicated departments or comprehensive protection strategies.

Until now, there has been no systematic, Europe-wide tracking of how SMEs organize their cybersecurity, what strategies they have in place, and where the biggest challenges lie.

The new it-sa Cyber Security Barometer addresses this gap. Over 1,000 cybersecurity decision-makers from SMEs in five European countries were surveyed in a comprehensive study.

The results paint a revealing picture: while cybersecurity is widely recognized as a high-risk issue and many companies believe they a ...