Cybersecurity Issues and Practices in a Cloud Context: A Comparison Amongst Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

TL;DR

This study compares cybersecurity threats and practices in cloud environments across micro, small, and medium enterprises, revealing significant differences and emphasizing the need for tailored security strategies.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of cloud cybersecurity practices among different enterprise sizes, highlighting key differences and guiding future research.

Findings

Significant differences in cloud security practices among enterprise sizes

Micro, small, and medium enterprises face distinct cybersecurity threats

Recommendations for tailored cybersecurity strategies for each enterprise type

Abstract

The advancement and the proliferation of information systems among enterprises have given rise to understanding cybersecurity. Cybersecurity practices provide a set of techniques and procedures to protect the systems, networks, programs and data from attack, damage, or unauthorised access. Such cybersecurity practices vary and are applied differently to different types of enterprises. The purpose of this research is to compare the critical cybersecurity threats and practices in the cloud context among micro, small, and medium enterprises. By conducting a survey among 289 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Australia, this study highlights the significant differences in their cloud security practices. It also concludes that future studies that focus on cybersecurity issues and practices in the context of cloud computing should pay attention to these differences.