Cyber Security

Information security is crucial to all organisations to protect their information and conduct their business securely.

Todays Threats 

According to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey, nearly half (43 per cent) of all UK businesses had reported cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months. These data breaches have resulted in lost files, software, system or website corruption, and even loss of assets or intellectual property.

The most common cyber security threats include scammers impersonating a business, the sending of fraudulent emails, and viruses and malware. Research from the Cyber Security Breaches Survey also found that the average financial impact for businesses in the last 12 months came at a cost of over £3,000, which can have a substantial effect on a small business’ revenue.

With the recent implementation of GDPR in May this year, this also means businesses have to report any breaches to the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office). As a result, the fines have dramatically increased which could also mean the average cost of data breaches rise even further in the coming years. The impact of a data breach since the introduction of GDPR can also be greater with the ICO being able to stop a business from processing data in the future.

source: https://www.itproportal.com/features/the-importance-of-maintaining-cyber-security-in-your-business/

Cyber Security Tooling  

In todays world you need to be prepared as the potential risk of reputational damage increases. We have gathered a list of tools that we believe can help protect your business if implemented correctly.

This is great if you are using Windows 10 Professional you can use BitLocker to encrypt all your drives and protect your data at rest. If however you do not have this there are many free tools out there which perform similar actions. One downside is management over head of other applications can sometimes be cumbersome.

HIPS stands for Host-base Intrusion Detection System and this is a tool which blocks unwanted behaviour from applications. These systems normally come with you endpoint protection tooling.

This is core in preventing the blast radius of any infection or malware you find on your network. Most firewalls will come with a set of rules to protect you inbound, but be warned normally they are outbound any.

Times have changed – its times your password behaviour did too! Using a system which will manage the vast range of password for your business is now the standard approach. Weak passwords are one of the major reason for systems being “hacked”. A good tool which offers personal to enterpise level packges is LastPass…

This can be found on all modern day online banking, this feature is also available and becoming more prevalent in SaaS tools. The idea behind two factor is you have to have two things to gain access to a system, a good approach is to have something you know (a user name and password) and something you have (token, fob, mobile app), this way you reduce the blast radius of exposed passwords! Additionally you can use two factor on your credential management tools, giving you peace of mind.

Drop us a message or give us a call and we will be in touch to help you gain a better understanding of security and your business