Towards an Integrated Cybersecurity Framework for Small and Medium Enterprises

Cybersecurity is a major concern for organizations around the world. In the case of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), given their limited means, this aspect is addressed without the necessary resources or skills. This paper presents a cybersecurity framework built upon policies, processes, procedures, and countermeasures developed to ensure business continuity in these organizations. Based on the state-of-the-art standards and initiatives, and supported by a tool, this framework will allow SMEs to identify the assets, vulnerabilities, and the weaknesses of their systems in order to determine the potential risks of each threat as well as the possible actions to be adopted in each case. The framework and its tool are presented by means of a use case, picturing the applicability of the effort in SMEs.