In 2021, 23.2% of enterprises experienced at least once a problem due to an ICT security incident: unavailability of ICT services, destruction or corruption of data, disclosure of confidential data. This is what emerged from the survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises ^[1][2] conducted between May and September 2022 by Statbel, the Belgian statistical office.

In order to prevent these security problems, nine enterprises out of ten use authentication via secure password ^[3], 39.4% use at least two authentication mechanisms (i.e. combination of e.g. user-defined password, one-time password (OTP), code generated via a security token or received via a smartphone, biometric method based on the face) and 12.6% use authentication via biometric methods.

77.2% of enterprises use network access control (management of user rights in enterprise's network) and six enterprises out of ten use VPN ^[4].

To make their staff aware of the importance of IT security, five enterprises out of ten make their staff aware of their obligations in ICT security related issues. However, only 34.1% of enterprises have documents on measures, practices or procedures on ICT security.

Furthermore, 33.1% of enterprises have an insurance against ICT security incidents.

Environmental protection

Almost seven enterprises out of ten apply some measures affecting the amount of paper used or the energy consumption of the ICT equipment. For three enterprises out of ten, when the ICT equipment of the enterprise is no longer used, it is sold, returned to a leasing enterprise, or donated.

Moreover, the survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises 2022 allows us to draw the following conclusions:

• Almost all enterprises have access to the Internet via a fixed broadband connection. Almost seven out of ten use a connection with a download speed of at least 100Mbit/s.
• 63.5% of enterprises conduct remote meetings. This share is 97.2% for enterprises with more than 250 employees. 40.8% of enterprises have ICT security guidelines for conducting these remote meetings.
• Almost a quarter of enterprises received orders placed via websites or apps. For enterprises with more than 250 employees, this share is four out of ten. In general, enterprises received orders placed via their own website or apps by customers located in Belgium.
• One enterprise out of ten uses industrial or service robots ^[5]. The main reasons are to ensure high precision or standardized quality of processes and/or goods and services produced, to enhance safety at work and, for half of them, partly because of the high cost of labour.

^[1] Enterprises with at least 10 employees.

^[2] Survey organised at the European level based on the Regulation (EC) No 808/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 and on the Regulation (EC) No 1006/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009.

^[3] A chain of at least 8 mixed characters, changed periodically

^[4] Virtual Private Network extends a private network across a public network to enable secure exchange of data.

^[5] An industrial robot is an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator programmable in three or more axes, which may be either fixed in place or mobile for use. A service robot is a machine that has a degree of autonomy that enables it to operate in a complex and dynamic environment that may require interaction with persons, objects or other devices, excluding its use in industrial automation applications.