The study, which took in responses from more than 1,300 IT professionals in 11 countries, found that 31% of malware attacks resulted in some form of data loss, with 10% of companies reporting the loss of sensitive business data.
Delving into the report reveals that only 70% of companies have implemented anti-malware protection fully across their businesses with 3% have no protection at all.
According to Kaspersky, the level of anti-malware implementation varies from country to country: in emerging markets 65% of companies have adopted it, while in the UK and US levels of implementation stood at 92% and 82% respectively.
Despite this, the IT security vendor says that the vast majority of companies still experienced an IT security breach in the last 12 months, and almost a third lost business information.
The report concludes that, amongst firms of all sizes around the world there is a solid level of awareness about IT security threats and the respective risks.
Cyberthreats, says the study, are ranked as the most growing concern, and confirmed by almost half of respondents. At the same time every second company evaluates its IT security budget as insufficient, with a 25% increase in funding seen as necessary.
This, adds the report, has led to a situation where the majority of companies experienced an IT security breach in the last 12 months, and almost a third lost business information.
Because of this, Kaspersky says that strong IT security across all business departments covering all endpoints is necessary to avoid major damage to a company.
"The number of cyber-threats, including targeted attacks, may lead not only to sensitive data loss, but a company's brand image can also be damaged, which is a top threat for the majority of businesses", says the report.
"At least half of the companies feel there is more work to be done. This includes increasing the number of IT security staff, raising the level of investment and implementing the newest solutions and technologies to protect a company's business", the report adds.
Commenting on the report, Alexander Erofeev, Kaspersky's director of marketing intelligence, said that the most likely reasons for the high levels of attacks being experienced by respondent firms is underinvestment in IT security.
The study, he explained, shows that every second company evaluates its IT security budget as insufficient, and estimates that an increase of 25% or more is required.
"Currently, the average investment in IT security is reported to be $8,055 for small businesses, $83,200 for medium-sized companies and $3,263,476 for large corporations", he noted.