Do you know how to protect your company?
Cyber security remains a real issue for many businesses
For every business, no matter the size, cyber security remains a very real issue and many SMEs could be more exposed than they realise.
Nearly half of UK businesses have experienced a form of cyber security breach in the past year. According to the latest UK Cyber Security Breaches Survey by The UK Government, 612,000 business have reported a form of cyber security attack, with 57,000 charities experiencing similar concerns.
The survey suggests that many SMEs may not be as cyber secure as they think because they are yet to experience a direct incident.
Below, we detail some key steps that can help to protect your business from potential cyber-attacks:
Steps you can take to protect your business
For smaller organisations, the challenge isn’t always preventing every attack, it is knowing that one has happened in the first place.
1. For SMEs, building strong protection creates confidence across the organisation. Educating staff, secure access controls and reliable data protection all form part of a strong cyber security approach. Regular backups and tested recovery processes with layered security tools also provide ongoing protection.
2. We also encourage our clients to achieve the UK government backed Cyber Essentials certification which helps protect against the most common online threats while demonstrating to customers, suppliers and partners that your business is taking proactive steps to reduce the risk of preventable attacks.
3. Alongside Cyber Essentials, strong endpoint protection is also essential. Modern endpoint security goes beyond traditional antivirus by continuously monitoring devices for suspicious activity, detecting emerging threats and helping to contain attacks before they can spread across your organisation.
Phishing is still the way in
While phishing remains the most common attack method, it’s becoming increasingly sophisticated. Criminals are using AI to create convincing emails, cloned voices and deepfake videos that can be difficult to distinguish from genuine communications.
There are signs to look out for when spotting a phishing attack including spotting ‘urgent’ emails from colleagues when requesting payment information. Check to see if the email is ‘typical’ of the sender and look at their email address to ensure it is correct. Training staff is crucial for avoiding phishing attacks causing disruption to your business.
By training your team on cyber security essentials such as security awareness, phishing simulations, data privacy, password and access management, and device and remote working security, you’re taking essential steps to protect your business from the daily threats of cyber security.
We work alongside industry leading partners to offer engaging and real time training on cyber security to our clients. This ensures that businesses are armed with key information to keep themselves and staff safe online.
What to do if you experience an attack
If your systems went down tomorrow, would your team know what to do? Who to contact? How would you keep the business operating?
The businesses that recover quickest are the ones that have prepared for an attack. Staff know how to respond, backups have been tested, responsibilities are clear and recovery plans have already been rehearsed.
We understand that every business faces unique cyber security challenges. From ransomware protection and resilience, cloud and network security, to IT security, risk management and cyber security solutions for SMEs, we provide tailored services that help businesses strengthen their security, reduce risk and stay resilient against evolving cyber threats.
If you’d like to understand how your business compares or review your current cyber security arrangements, contact us today.
