Have you ever given much thought to what would happen if your business was to come under attack by cyber criminals? Take a minute to think about what information they could obtain on you, your business and your clients if you don’t have adequate protective measures in place. After the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May last year, a breach has potential to have costly implications for your business. British Airways (BA) were subject to a cyber-attack in September 2018 that led to the customer data of 500,000 people being compromised, as a result, the Information Commissioners Office have given notice to fine BA for £183.39 million for infringements of the GDPR.
It’s easy to think, ‘oh well, it won’t happen to me, these things only happen to huge businesses’, but you’d be surprised at the level of cyber-crime going on every single day! In fact;
In the UK last year cyber-crime grew by 63%
A study by McAfee and the Centre for Strategic and International studies estimated that the cost of cyber grime was calculated at 0.8% of global GDP
Worldwide cyber-crime revenues are estimated to be around $1.5 trillion
$1 million is being lost to cyber-crime every minute
95% of cloud data breaches are initiated by staff
With figures like these in mind, it is essential to put some form of cyber protection in place, without it you run the risk of losing not only assets in the form of information, but also hard cash. An emerging form of cyber-crime in 2018 was crypto jacking; using a computer for the unauthorised mining cryptocurrency, interestingly this is overtaking ransomware attacks. Police are upskilling to tackle this relatively ‘new’ form of crime, but unfortunately so are the criminals in getting around being caught.
Let’s get to the point… how can you protect your business against cyber-attacks?
There are several forms of IT security solutions you can put into place to protect your business from cyber-attack, these include antivirus software, firewalls, monitoring and also education of your employees.
Antivirus – Much like the viruses that attack us as humans, computer viruses present a new threat every day. To protect against them your business needs to have antivirus protection in place, your system should be live to protect against the ever-changing virus threat.
Firewall – Your firewall is the front door to the cyber side of your business, treat it as you would your own front door, locked and inaccessible to intruders. The firewall is locked down to unauthorised traffic, only allowing authorised personnel entry to your cyber assets.
Monitoring – Are you fully aware of what is happening on your work computers? Do you know what chat/messenger apps your employees might be accessing on business computers? Monitoring email use, chat rooms accessed, and internet usage will give you an overview of what happens on the computers in your place of work.
Employee education – Without correct education on cyber security your employees can unwittingly let hackers through your cyber front door, with a good level of education on network security your employees can act as your human firewall.
With cyber-crime growing, now really is the time to put the correct IT security solution into place, you wouldn’t compromise on your business premise alarm system so why compromise on your cyber front door security. We work with many business providing full cyber security solutions that they can trust. Our aim is to provide not only exemplary service but also to ensure that your and your customers’ valuable cyber assets are kept safe and secure.
Get in touch with one of our cyber-security experts to discuss your requirements.
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