2017

In sport, an opponent poses a challenge and a solution has to be found to counter it. The England versus Italy rugby international last week during the Six Nations is a notable example.

Similarly these days in business, we are all trying to find ways to protect our company from the threats posed by cyber attacks. The difference is we need to anticipate attack tactics and be proactive in countering them – being reactive in rugby might save you, but in business it might mean game over.

The security landscape has changed dramatically. Cyber attacks are on the rise. Here’s some figures that might shock you – staggeringly, cybercrime now makes up 40% of all recorded criminal incidents and there were more than 5.8m incidents in England and Wales last year. Cyber attacks are more brutal, sophisticated, creative and complex than ever and no business is immune.  According to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey, 65% of large businesses detected a cyber security breach or attack in the past year, with the average cost of a cyber breach to them was £36,500. In total, cyber attacks cost UK business more than £34bn a year.

Our cyber opponents are using constantly evolving tactics with the aim of stealing our assets. Symantec discovered more than 430 million new unique pieces of malware in 2015, up 36 percent. We need to out smart them. We need to be prepared and make sure we have adequate protection in place. We need to be proactive.

Undoubtedly, businesses view cyber security as important, but the cause for concern is that many still don’t understand the risks and actions to take. In fact, several studies conclude that just half of all businesses have attempted to identify the cyber security risks faced by their organisation. So 50% of UK businesses aren’t prepared for cyber attacks and not being proactive.

This is where the Government backed Cyber Essentials scheme comes in. Basically, a health check of a company’s IT security measures and risk assessment that addresses the basic weaknesses and helps prevent the most common attacks such as phishing and hacking. Specifically, it ensures the company is protected against unauthorised access, has secure system configuration, user access control in place, is protected against malware and has up to date software and the latest security patches.

Cyber Essentials is an excellent opportunity to help your customers secure their business and for you to provide a valuable and essential service.

Don’t let your customers be mauled by cyber opponents. Help them be proactive and have their defences aligned.