Last week it was announced that the UK is the “most breached country in Europe”. Cyber security company Thales’ Data Threat Report 2018 has revealed that 37 per cent of businesses across the UK were breached in 2017 – up from 22 per cent the previous year.
Peter Galvin, Chief Strategy Officer at Thales, has said: “a tidal wave of data breaches is continuing to roll across Europe, with three in every four organisations now a victim of cyber-crime. As a result, people are feeling more vulnerable than ever before, worried about where the next threat will come from, and in what form.”
Find out more about this latest cyber security news below.
The rise of cyber attacks
The cyber attacks that occurred during 2017 were a wakeup call for businesses and other organisations across Europe.
Last year, Europe battled its way through WannaCry, a ransomware attack that crippled thousands of IT systems, including the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). Larger private sector organisations like Equifax, Accenture and T-Mobile were also hit by damaging cyber crimes.
Despite the UK being the most breached country in Europe, organisations aren’t feeling under threat. The latest study by Thales revealed that British businesses claimed to feel less vulnerable to data threats, compared to those in Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
Despite the rise in attacks, only 31 per cent of UK organisations feeling ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ vulnerable to data threats. Businesses across Sweden claimed to feel the most vulnerable (49%), followed by the Netherlands (47%) and Germany (36%).
Protection against advanced cyber attacks
Despite 69% of UK businesses feeling ‘somewhat’ or ‘not at all’ vulnerable to cyber attacks, the head of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has warned that a major cyber attack on the UK is a matter of “when not if”.
Thales recommends that “the best chance of success against these advanced attacks” is to carefully assess the level of attention that is required by your business to fully protect its data.
Cyber certification is a good place to start. Cyber Essentials can help protect your business from around 80% of common cyber attacks and it will allow your business to promote its services as cyber protected.
Cyber Essentials
If your business wants to take the first steps to becoming cyber secure, Cyber Essentials is a government-introduced, industry backed cyber security certification. It is the minimum certification an organisation needs to implement to bid for new MOD defence contracts which include the transfer of ‘MOD identifiable information’.
DCI customers can choose from three Cyber Essentials products:
- Cyber Essentials
- Cyber Essentials Fast Track
- Cyber Essentials Plus
Cyber Essentials Plus is the level above the foundation certification and provides a more rigorous test of your organisation’s cyber security systems.
Not sure what package is suited to your business? Download our free Cyber Essentials scheme summary.
