Recent research has revealed that cyber security breaches among UK businesses are increasing, with 90% of large organisations reporting a security breach in 2014, up from 81% the previous year.
In addition, the costs associated with dealing with a cyber attack has doubled, up from £600,000 to £1.15m a year ago to an average of £1.46m to £3.14m.
Information Security Breaches
The research was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and published as part of their Information Security Breaches Survey 2015.
Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey commented: “The UK’s digital economy is strong and growing, which is why British businesses remain an attractive target for cyber-attack and the cost is rising dramatically. Businesses that take this threat seriously are not only protecting themselves and their customers’ data but securing a competitive advantage.
“I would urge businesses of all sizes to make use of the help and guidance available from Government and take up the Cyber Essentials Scheme.”
Establishing your organisation as having a safe online presence can be a real selling point to your customers and to potential public sector clients, particularly as government seeks to make cyber security a mandatory requirement before the award of certain contract opportunities.
Top tips to improve your cyber security
To help your business maintain a strong cyber security infrastructure, here’s top ten tips approved by the UK Government as part of their Cyber Essentials scheme:
- Develop a mobile working policy and train staff to adhere to it. Apply the secure baseline build to all devices. Protect data both in transit and at rest
- Produce user security policies covering acceptable and secure use of the organisation’s systems. Establish a staff training programme. Maintain user awareness of the cyber risks
- Establish an incident response and disaster recovery capability. Produce and test incident management plans. Provide specialist training to the incident management team. Report criminal incidents to law enforcement
- Establish an effective governance structure and determine your risk appetite. Maintain the Board’s engagement with the cyber risk. Produce supporting information risk management policies
- Establish account management processes and limit the number of privileged accounts. Limit user privileges and monitor user activity. Control access to activity and audit logs
- Produce a policy to control all access to removable media. Limit media types and use. Scan all media for malware before importing on to corporate system
- Establish a monitoring strategy and produce supporting policies. Continuously monitor all ICT systems and networks. Analyse logs for unusual activate that could indicate an attack
- Apply security patches and ensure that the secure configuration of all ICT systems is maintained. Create a system inventory and define a baseline build for all ICT devices
- Produce relevant policy and establish anti-malware defences that are applicable and relevant to all business areas. Scan for malware across the organisation.
- Protect your networks against external and internal attacks. Manage the network perimeter. Filter out unauthorised access and malicious content. Monitor and test security controls.
Defence security and opportunities
With the cyber market again in the spotlight, now is the time to ensure that your business is well prepared for the risks and is ready to make the most of the opportunities available.
Having visibility of the right opportunities for your business from the start is vital in gaining first-mover competitive advantage; DCI gives you more opportunities, intelligence and support than anyone else.
Our unique content and market intelligence, along with our training and events portfolio, means that DCI does more than help you find contracts – we help you win them too, supporting your business at every stage of the tender process.
To test the system for yourself, book a free trial today.
