Cybersecurity Risks and Solutions for Digitally Growing SMEs

Accelerated by the digital transformation wave, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) realise improvement in operational efficiency and market competitiveness, but are encountering more cybersecurity risks. This paper investigates the key cybersecurity concerns encountered by SMEs experiencing digital growth and their solutions. The research is a qualitative-based systematic review of pertinent literature, white papers, reports (industry), and known SME cyberattacks. The results indicate that the common SME cybersecurity threats were phishing, ransomware, poor access controls, insider threats, and insecure cloud permeations. The research also names employee education, 2FA and MFA security solutions, regular data backups, secure communications networks, and incident response planning as crucial in the struggle to achieve cyber resilience. The research finds that a natural, holistic cybersecurity concept is needed for SMEs to ensure the continued success of digital progress – to safeguard sensitive data and uphold accompanying customer confidence in the context of an ever more agitated global information landscape.