99 % of Latvian enterprises¹ used internet at the beginning of 2019 and 64.2 % of enterprises had their own website. Results of the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) annual survey on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in enterprises show that 94.1 % of large enterprises, 86.1 % of medium-sized enterprises and 59 % of small enterprises² had their own website.

In 2009, only 42.1 % of enterprises had a website. During ten years most rapidly this indicator increased in medium-sized (by 23.8 percentage points) and small enterprises (by 21.5 percentage points), but in large enterprises growth comprises 9.7 percentage points (in 2009, already 84.4 % of large enterprises had a website). In breakdown by sectors, this trend has not changed during ten years. The largest amount of enterprises with a website are in information and communication services sector (92 %) and accommodation sector (84.2 %).

23.8 % of enterprises with a website analyse activities of website visitors with an aim to advertise and improve customer satisfaction.

40.9 % of enterprises use social media, of which 74.5 % are large enterprises, 49.9 % – medium-sized enterprises and 38.2 % – small enterprises. In 2017, 30 % of enterprises used social media, but in 2013 – only 15.4 %. Compared to 2017, most rapidly use of social media increased in small enterprises (by 11.3 percentage points), in medium-sized and large enterprises – by 8.6 and 8 percentage points, respectively. Increasing number of enterprises (39.7 %) are using social network in their activity, such as Facebook, Draugiem, LinkedIn, etc. Multimedia content sharing sites, such as Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, are used by 16.4 % of enterprises, blogging or micro-blogging sites, such as Twitter, WordPress, – by 10.3 % enterprises. The smallest amount of enterprises (3.7 %) are using Wiki-based knowledge-sharing tools, such as MediaWiki, Confluence, SharePoint.

Similar as in previous years, enterprises use social media the most for promoting company image or increasing awareness of products (37.9 %), for getting information on customer opinions and reviews or for providing answer on customer questions (26.4 %), as well as for searching employees (23.2 %). Less frequently – for involving customers in development and improvement of goods or services (16.2 %), for cooperation with business partners or other organizations (14.8 %) and for enhancement of views or knowledge sharing within the enterprise (12.1 %).

For the first time this year enterprises were asked on ICT security³. Results of the survey show that special provisions on ICT security requirements and measures are elaborated in 41.9 % of enterprises. Majority of them (25.4 %) have updated documentation on ICT security measures and requirements over the last year, 12.2 % – within one to two years time, but 4.2 % – more than two years ago.

Mostly outsourcing service providers are responsible for implementation of ICT security measures in enterprises (in 69 % of enterprises), but in 24.4 % of enterprises – their own employees, but in 5.4 % of enterprises – both outsourcing service providers and employees of the enterprise. Mainly small enterprises (75.6 %) and medium-sized enterprises (72.9 %) attract such outsourcing service, less frequently – large enterprises (44.6 %).

In 2018, 9.4 % of enterprises faced inaccessibility of ICT services or systems, 6.7 % – data losses or damages, but 1.6 % – disclosure of confidential data. 12.2 % of enterprises are insured against ICT security incidents.

ICT security control used the most (in 86.9 % enterprises) is stringent password, the least (in 11.1 % enterprises) – biometric methods, for example, fingerprints, voice or face recognition.

ICT security controls used in enterprises in 2019
(% of total number of enterprises in the respective group)

ICT security control	Total	Of which with the number of employees:
ICT security control	Total	10–49 (small)	50–249 (medium-sized)	250+ (large)
Stringent passwords	86.9	86.0	90.6	94.6
Regular software (operating system) update	75.1	72.1	87.5	95.2
Identification of users and authorization using biometric methods	11.1	10.0	15.2	19.9
Encryption of data, documents and / or e-mail	27.3	24.9	35.8	54.8
Data backup in other data medium (including cloud computing⁴)	60.6	57.2	73.8	91.4
Network access control (equipment and user access control)	56.2	52.3	71.1	89.0
VPN (virtual private network which ensures secure data exchange using public network)	25.9	21.1	43.0	77.8
Maintenance of log files for analysis after security incidents	22.2	17.7	37.9	74.4
ICT security risk assessment	30.0	25.3	47.6	76.9
ICT security testing	32.4	28.1	49.2	67.7

Methodological explanations

¹The survey covered enterprises employing ten or more people in the following economic activities: manufacturing, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities, construction, trade, hotels and restaurants, transportation and storage, information and communication, real estate activities, professional, scientific and technical activities, administrative and support service activities and repair of computers and communication equipment.

²Small enterprises – those employing 10–49 people, medium sized – those employing 50– 249 people, and large – those employing 250 people or more.

³ICT security is funding, monitoring and procedures incorporated in ICT systems with an aim to ensure data and system integrity, authenticity, availability and confidentiality.

⁴Cloud computing is information storage, processing and use on remote computers which are reached over the Internet.

Media requests:
Communication Section
E-mail: media@csb.gov.lv
Phone: +371 67366621, +371 27880666

More information on data:
Jekaterina Čalomova
Trade and Services Statistics Section
E-mail: Jekaterina.Calomova@csb.gov.lv
Phone: +371 67366633

ICT sector

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