New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS): Around 36 per cent of small businesses have been victims of data breaches in 2019 globally, a new survey said on Wednesday.

While data breaches threaten small companies with painful consequences, the survey by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky revealed that security measures taken by them to prevent such incidents are often insufficient.

"Smaller companies are often focused on how to make their business work and grow -- just like they should be. They may not have cybersecurity among their top priorities. However, the cost for overlooking the problem will only grow. Why? Because malware doesn't distinguish between its victims and because even very small organisations have something to lose, such as sensitive data," Andrey Dankevich, Solution Business Lead, Kaspersky, said in a statement.

Small companies sufnfer from data breaches and the number of those affected is growing year on year and most significantly, faster than in any other sector.

Though the share of those who fell victim to data breaches is higher among SMBs (46 per cent) and enterprises (53 per cent), in smaller companies it has climbed six percentage points -- from 30 per cent in 2018 to 36 per cent this year.

"The good news is that to be able to protect themselves both from malware and human factor risks, these smaller companies don't need to invest much or hire advanced specialists. It is only a matter of choosing the right security product," added Dankevich.

According to the cybersecurity firm, to avoid these consequences, small companies need to be better prepared for data breaches.