In the ISSE 2015 security conference held in Berlin Emma Philpott, IASME consortium chief executive, highlighted how the ICT industry must engage with SMEs to help them overcome cyber risks.
Engagement by the information security industry is necessary, she said, because SMEs typically do not bother about cyber security, for various reasons:

• SMEs do not understand the threat to their business
• SMEs do not know what to do in case of a cyber attack
• Expertise is expensive and SMEs are typically too busy keeping their business afloat

In order to both raise awareness on cyber security it is also important to focus on the positives, encourage SMEs to take small steps towards better cyber security and to reward any progress made.

Source: Computerweekly

WISER tools are an important enabler for SMEs whose very existence could be under threat due to poor security strategies and lack of expertise and information.
WISER will roll out a "first-entry" level tool for small firms that will help them making a self-assessment of their cyber risks, and in a second step will develop an in-depth monitoring service to assess the economic impact of a cyber attack or risk exposure.