IT resources in small and medium-size businesses are often limited and time savers are welcome. But some security short cuts may put your business at risk costing more than time in the long run. Here are five of the most common security mistakes SMB's make and their simple solutions.

The first is relying solely on an ISP or gateway appliance if you put full trust in an ISP, the devices outside your network are not protected, on the other hand if you use a gateway appliance you're not safe from threats inside your network. The solution is to get layered protection.

The second mistake is using a consumer antivirus solution consumer anti-virus products give control of security to end-users not IT administrators and there's no way to determine if their threat definitions are up to date, which need your business at risk from the newest threats. The answer is obvious, choose a business antivirus solution.

The third is assuming that upgrades are automatic many security solutions don't automatically deploy or regularly maintain patches, and on patch computers pose a huge risk to your network, giving hackers and virus writers an open door to exploit! The solution? Be proactive in patch management preferably using a tool that automates the process to make your life easier. Failing to educate employees is another common error, many malware attacks are successful because end users are unaware of what they should and shouldn't be doing online and why?

So it is important that you educate your users and set up the right policies and practices.There are many resources online and in this video series that can help you with this. And finally avoid trading performance for effectiveness, most anti-malware solutions are retooled to address new threats they provide protection but hogg resources placing high demands on systems and networks. Make sure you're using a low-impact AV solution that doesn't hogg your resources.

If any of these security mistakes rings true you're not alone thankfully they are easy to solve as long as you're armed with the right information.