Chinese cybersecurity giant 360 Security Group is stepping up its push to help small and medium-sized enterprises better defend against data security risks, as they encounter more cyber security challenges amid an accelerated digital transformation.

Zhou Hongyi, founder of 360 Security Group, said with the advent of the industrial internet, traditional industries and governments are actively embracing digital technologies but new data security risks are emerging.

"Data security companies should shift from being product-centric to service-centric," Zhou said, adding it is of great importance to build security systems that can help clients "see" data security risks and focus on offering services to them.

As digital transformation accelerates, Chinese SMEs are facing increasing data security risks according to a report jointly released by 360 Dipper Research, the company’s think tank, and organizations including the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.

More than 85 percent of small, medium-sized and micro enterprises surveyed by the report have encountered digital security problems and have suffered more cyberattacks than before. About 77 percent said they themselves could not effectively deal with digital security risks.

SMEs have specific security needs in terms of digital business scenarios, budgets, security capabilities, emergency response and other aspects. As a result, security services and products that used to be applicable to large enterprises cannot be directly offered to them, experts added.

Amid this context, Zhou said for SMEs which don’t have the essential funds, talents and technologies in the process of digital transformation, the company hopes to offer affordable solutions to help them solve data security problems.

"For big enterprises that have their own data security teams, we should provide data to empower them to better see risks," Zhou added.

In the past 20 years the company has invested 20 billion yuan ($2.96 billion) in cybersecurity, and has gathered 2,000 data security experts and a large quantity of data which can help it better offer business-oriented data security services.