NHS, Sony, Talk Talk and the list goes on. You only have to search ‘data breaches’ online to see reports of companies whose data has been compromised. From malicious or criminal attacks, human error or system glitches, to personal details being sold online, data loss has serious consequences.
Recent Government statistics show that 81% of large businesses and 60% of small businesses have suffered a cyber-security breach in the past year. Cyber-attacks are costing the British industry £34bn a year1 and if they are not resolved quickly, the cost of these attacks can escalate.
The average time to resolve an attack is 31 days but some attacks can take more than 70 days to contain2. As you might expect the resulting business disruption costs are the largest external cost associated with any type of cyber-attack. But there are many other implications, such as the cost and resource involved in resolving the attack; alerting customers of a data breach; loss of information and cost of recovery; reputational damage and the potential loss of customers.
Reducing the Risk
There are a number of measures that can be taken to reduce the risk of cyber-attacks, which include:
- Training – educating employees in how to securely use the company’s systems and recognise potential breaches.
- Keep systems up-to-date – securing ‘patch’ software to automatically update programs to fix security vulnerabilities and carry out regular scans.
- Monitor removable media – limit employee access to removable media, such as memory sticks, and scan them before uploading data to company software.
- Manage and monitor IT systems and networks – control the access of employees, limit the number of privileged users, monitor activity and log and analyse unusual activity.
- Create a disaster recovery plan – produce and test plans to ensure the business is prepared in the event of an incident.
- Establish anti-malware protection – scan for malware across the business.
- Protect networks – implement network security controls to protect networks from internal and external attacks.
At Ernest R Shaw we understand that the risk of cyber threats is greater than ever before. Could your business survive without access to your systems and data? Losing sensitive data could be seriously damaging so it’s vital to make sure you have the protection you need.
To find out how we can help you protect your business, please call us on 0121 236 1345 or email us at info@ernestrshaw.co.uk
- Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newbysector/industry/defence/11663761/cyber-attacks-cost-british-industry-34bn-a-year.html)
- 2016 Ponemon Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis (https://www.ponemon.org/news-2/58)