Four in every 10 small and medium businesses in Ireland have suffered a cyberattack resulting in data being lost or stolen, according to a new survey.

The business sentiment survey by online accounting software group Big Red Cloud also reports that while many Irish businesses are now taking steps to frustrate such attacks, there is concern they are not effective.

"It's encouraging to see that 76 per cent of Irish firms have cybersecurity measures in place but we fear some of these may be far too basic."

The survey found that, of those SMEs that said they had been hit by a cyber security attack, a “virus” was the top form of threat with 42 per cent of respondents being hit by one of these in the past.

Other issues for companies include ransomware – where the firm has to pay to unlock or fix its own systems, which has been a problem for almost one in five businesses.

Company chief executive Marc O’Dwyer said that, when asked about the cost of such attacks, 75 per cent of businesses said they were able to deal with the issue without having to pay out financially.

Mr O’Dwyer said cybercrime was evolving “at an incredible pace and has become quite sophisticated in the past two years in particular – so it’s really up to each firm to ensure they keep pace with the cybercriminals”.