A research from Panda Security revealed that small and medium enterprises in the UK mostly rely on free IT security. Panda conducted a survey where 98 percent of the respondents were found to be spending less than £1,000 per year on security suites. Around 50 percent admitted they are allocating less than £300 annually for IT security. About 57 percent of businesses across the UK benefit from free security software for desktop PCs. Nevertheless, majority of these companies do not regularly update their servers and applications. The survey further showed that UK SMEs use anti-virus software as their primary data security tool. "Saving pennies in this day and age by using free security software shows smart thinking by UK SMBs," a security analyst from Bloor Research said. Despite the increasing use of free security software, the UK has the least number of infection rates based on Panda’s research.
