Few companies may be ready to handle an attack from criminals lurking in cyberspace, and fewer know about the government’s three-year-old cyber-security efforts, according to a national study. The study’s authors concluded that results, while only a small snapshot of the millions of businesses big and small in Canada, point to gaps in how companies protect themselves from cybercrime, a finding that could be chalked up to little monetary damage to companies that fall victim to hackers. The cost of cybercrime to those businesses that fell victim to an attack was low, on average about $14,000 per incident, according to the companies surveyed. Cybercrime victims also reported little effects on their business reputation, according to the study from the International Cyber Security Protection Alliance, a non-profit group based in the U.K. Experts suggest that financial-effect figures may have to rise dramatically before small- and medium-sized businesses beef up their IT defences, since few appear ready to defend themselves from attackers.