Over 1200 Symantec partners across the Asia Pacific and Japan region have signed up to Symantec’s SMB specialisation program, indicating a strong market among small and medium businesses in the region.

The program is part of a strategy targeting SMBs implemented last year. The company’s latest Internet Security Threat Report identified SMBs as a growing target for attacks, with 18% of targeted organisations employing fewer than 250 people.

This may be because SMBs offer easier pickings than enterprises, due to shortages of time and money.

Bernard Kwok, senior vice president, Asia Pacific and Japan for Symantec, says the company is ‘fully committed’ to enabling partners to support SMBs.

"With more than 1200 SMB-specialised partners in this region, we are confident that we can help SMBs address their security, data protection and information management needs,” Kwok says.

"Our partners are critical in helping Symantec expand our reach to today’s information-savvy SMBs.”