A recent survey of 455 IT executives working for small and medium sized businesses reveals that 40 percent of the respondents believe their networks are not secure, despite the use of anti-virus software, spam filtering and firewalls. Thirty-nine percent of respondents indicated that they thought the greatest threat to their networks came from viral email. Twenty-two percent thought the greatest threat was posed by Internet downloads and only one of ten respondents thought that hackers presented the greatest security challenge. Insider attacks and the use of portable storage devices represented a threat for only 7 percent of survey respondents.

The survey also revealed that nearly one in three small- or medium-sized businesses was the subject of a successful virus attack in the past twelve months. Downloaded malware was reported by 3 of 10 respondents, and nearly one-quarter of respondents had experienced a hardware theft in the same time period.

GFI Software, which commissioned the study, believes that while IT executives are focused on the dangers posed by email viruses, they're overlooking the equally dangerous conditions that portable storage devices like USB sticks and iPods present. Nearly three of four respondents said their biggest overall concern was downtime, and more than 50 percent of respondents cited user support as an ongoing concern.