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A cyber assessment identifies the potential risks that you may have and indicates actions to help resolve
PCI and web security are significant issues, even if you outsource to a 3rd party. Small businesses can face large fines if they suffer a security breach and are found to be non-compliant with the PCI DSS.
Disruption and recovery are the main costs to an SME – Cyber attacks can hinder a business's productivity, harm its reputation and cause it to lose its competitive edge. An attack can damage a business’s financial health directly, and the recovery process can be lengthy and costly and it is estimated that cyber crimes cost SMEs around £800M per year. Cyber Attacks resulting in a data breach and exposure of customers’ confidential information negatively impact customers’ views of the business.
Cyber attacks resulting in a data breach/ exposure of customers’ confidential information can negatively impact customers’ views of the business. Once a company’s name becomes associated with questionable cyber security, companies may find that customers turn away from them, and or highlight issues in the same places that the company promotes itself.
Breach of confidentiality or failure to perform service for a client may be a Professional Indemnity policy. However Cyber covers your first party costs and legal response.
Data or internal IT systems can still create significant cyber/data risks (eg password data being lost or stolen). Attackers can sell data, such as pricing information, product designs or manufacturing processes to competitors, which may give them a market advantage. Cyber attacks are highly lucrative with profits easily made on the black market from selling stolen goods.
If you suffer a cyber attack resulting in a data breach then ICO and GDPR regulations apply, irrespective of size. Companies will be even more accountable under GDPR than under current legislation. Under GDPR, if an organisation doesn't process an individual's data in the correct way, it can be fined. If it requires and doesn't have a data protection officer, it can be fined. If there's a security breach, it can be fined.
Regardless of whether or not you outsource where the data is stored, as a “Data Controller” you cannot side step liability, it comes with the territory by law. You are accountable for compliance with data protection laws as the data controller determines the purposes for which and the manner in which personal data is processed.
You may have more sensitive data than you realise (employee, customer info, information passed to you by a 3rd party). You may be storing confidential information such as client lists, customer databases or financial details which are highly prized assets for criminals. Cyber criminals will make money through identity theft, sale of stolen information, holding data to ransom or stealing funds from bank accounts.
Always take the relevant steps to ensure you are secure such as :
• Always install the latest security updates for software and web applications, which will close
known vulnerabilities
• Encrypt sensitive data such as employee details and financial accounts.
• Update your anti-virus software and firewall as soon as a new version is released to ensure they’re
effective against new forms of malware.
• Protect mail servers with security software that scans emails to reduce the likelihood of falling
victim to infected attachments.
It is essential to safeguard your business against the evolving cyber risk regardless of where that business is held. It’s clear how quickly the cyber landscape is evolving, with the onset of new threats which can be targeted at third party hosting sites like wordpress, and or social media sites.
For any company that operates over an internet connection, bolstering cybersecurity is now more important than ever - It is essential to safeguard your business against the evolving cyber risk regardless of where that business is held. It’s recommended that you consult a network security specialist to give a thorough assessment on protecting your company.
Back ups are the best way to remain resilient. Back-ups are the most effective form of resilience to avoid the cost and disruption, although critical or operational systems may need more bespoke measures.
Back ups are the best way to remain resilient. Back-ups are the most effective form of resilience to avoid the cost and disruption, although critical or operational systems may need more bespoke measures.
Ransomware attacks are commonplace, back-ups give you the upper hand Having a plan in place in the event of a successful
attack can limit damage. Safeguarding data should be a priority, especially if that data is crucial
to the running of your business:
• 4 in 10 SMEs say they would struggle to recover from data loss.
• 1 in 4 SMEs admit they wouldn't be able to recover any data.
Ransomware attacks are commonplace, back-ups give you the upper hand Having a plan in place in the event of a successful
attack can limit damage. Safeguarding data should be a priority, especially if that data is crucial
to the running of your business:
• 4 in 10 SMEs say they would struggle to recover from data loss.
• 1 in 4 SMEs admit they wouldn't be able to recover any data.
How quickly could you fix a security issue? Zero-day' vulnerabilities can get around existing security measures. (A zero-day attack is also sometimes defined as an attack that takes advantage of security vulnerabilities on the same day that it becomes generally known. In other words, there are "zero days" between the time the vulnerability is discovered and the first attack).90% of successful attacks are via email so not always preventable as phishing attacks continue to grow in sophistication and effectiveness. Cybercriminals have a wide variety of social engineering techniques at their disposal to lure the user into clicking on links, opening attachments, or disclosing sensitive information.
It is essential to be aware of the various tactics used by cyber criminals to exploit security vulnerabilities. Malicious software, or malware is an umbrella term to cover any code or content that could have a malicious, undesirable impact on systems. Malware infections can cause material harm to your systems by compromising legitimate websites by injecting malicious code to visitors passing by when they download the infected software.
It is essential to be aware of the various tactics used by cyber criminals to exploit security vulnerabilities. Malicious software, or malware is an umbrella term to cover any code or content that could have a malicious, undesirable impact on systems. Malware infections can cause material harm to your systems by compromising legitimate websites by injecting malicious code to visitors passing by when they download the infected software.
It is essential to be aware of the various tactics used by cyber criminals to exploit security vulnerabilities. Malicious software, or malware is an umbrella term to cover any code or content that could have a malicious, undesirable impact on systems. Malware infections can cause material harm to your systems by compromising legitimate websites by injecting malicious code to visitors passing by when they download the infected software.
