Almost 9 in 10 SMBs will consider paying ransom to cybercriminals

About 65% experienced breach attempts in the past 12 months.

Despite the majority’s (91%) confidence in overall cyber resilience, about 88% of Singapore’s small and medium businesses (SMBs) might consider paying cybercriminals in the event of ransomware extortion attacks.

According to the “ESET SMB Cybersecurity Report”, 65% of Singaporean SMBs experienced breach attempts in the past 12 months.

In line with this, the respondents deem the lack of employee cyber awareness (49%) and generative AI (43%) as notable factors impacting cyberattack risks.

Moreover, SMBs mentioned the lack of a dedicated team (49%), the need to keep up with the latest threats (52%), and alert fatigue (31%) as major cybersecurity challenges.

“This heightened vulnerability, especially compared to larger enterprises, highlights the urgent need for SMBs to strengthen their security frameworks,” the report said.

ESET further mentioned that paying criminals only drives cybercrime, prompting SMBs to focus on adopting proactive strategies to prevent potential attacks

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