A report from the Association of Accounting Technicians also shows that many of them are not taking enough precautions to protect themselves.
Of the small and micro business owners – firms businesses with up to 49 employees – who said their business had suffered cyber-crime, 27 per cent had been victims of phishing – where sensitive information such as passwords are stolen by someone pretending to be from a bank, for example.
The report also showed that 25 per cent had suffered computer virus infection while 15 per cent had experienced card fraud.
Portsmouth News reported that the research found that a significant number of small and micro businesses are still not doing what they need to do to protect their businesses.
Rik Ferguson, vice president of security research at security software company Trend Micro, said: ‘There is good cybersecurity advice available for free online, but businesses should always consider finding a trusted specialist security partner.’
Image: cyber crime via Shuterstock