A free online tool to help protect your business against IT security risks.

New research from Business Link has found that over 20 per cent of small businesses have been subjected to a breach in online security and 47 per cent said they anticipate an IT security breach in the next year.

To help small businesses develop and manage their IT security effectively, businesslink.gov.uk has launched an IT risk assessment tool, which will help businesses understand and protect against the most common IT-related risks.

Developed with the National Computing Centre, the tool takes you through a series of questions that relate to the people you employ, the technology you use and the processes that you have in place and provides practical and detailed advice on how to reduce them.

The tool is free and only takes around five minutes to complete and is designed to reduce the time and costs associated with managing an efficient and secure IT system.

The IT and eCommerce section on businesslink.gov.uk is packed full of useful IT related information to help you run your business; from the basic IT information to setting up an ecommerce business, data protection, risk management and IT security.

To find out more about how to deal with the potential IT risks facing your business visit businesslink.gov.uk