Cyber crime – You can’t ignore it 

Research shows more than 2 in 5 (44%) businesses believe they are unlikely to be a target for cyber crime, with almost a quarter (23%) admitting that whilst they are worried they are not sure what to do to protect themselves and 8% haven’t thought about the risk at all.

In fact, just a quarter of businesses (24%) are taking steps to protect themselves from being the victim of a cyber attack despite the Office for National Statistics revealing that there were 2.5million incidents of cyber crime just between May and August of 2015.

Criminals are now operating in ever more sophisticated ways using codes to search out vulnerabilities online so anyone is essentially a target. Customers want the reassurance that their data is safe in your hands so protecting your business from cyber crime is so important. If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to put cyber risk on your agenda and take action to help prevent your business becoming a target.

More than a third of  business owners said they had been the victim of cyber crimes such as hacking, phishing and pharming, with three quarters of those businesses estimating the recovery outlay cost their business up to £1,000 – for 6% it was up to £5,000 and for 4% it was up to £10,000. For more than a quarter of those victims of cyber crime the costs related to loss of money and the same figure for the fixing the problem. After that costs were incurred for reputational damage (11%), loss of assets or intellectual property (10%) and payment of ransom demands (7%).

How to ensure you keep on top of cyber risk
– Encrypt your data – this means that only the other computer you are sending information to can decode the message you are sending
– Have a security process in place to promote safe computing in the workplace, so for example, don’t open suspect emails or attachments
– Make sure all data systems have passwords and change them at least quarterly.
– Make sure those passwords are at least 8 characters long and a combination of letters, numbers and symbols and don’t encourage sharing of passwords with anyone.
– Make sure firewalls and antivirus software are all active and up-to-date.
– Back up your data regularly and keep copies away from work premises.
– Make sure you have an incident response plan in place to help you understand what you need to do in the event of a breach/cyber attack – for example, who would you contact and how.
– Vet your service provider’s security procedures to ensure their security systems are secure and update your systems and software regularly.

To see how we can help protect you and your business, contact our team today and put them to the test.