The Business Bulletin
So cyber criminals are not interested in me, are they? You might think that cyber criminals are not interested in your business, especially if you are a small business or just starting out, but you would be very much mistaken.
Small business owners who have not
legitimate option to simply react to
1. Realise you are a target
implemented a thorough cybersecurity
these attacks. The statistics showing
plan are running the risk of finding
the most common breaches are
Start by recognising that you are a
themselves with real problems. In
frankly a wake up call.
some cases, this could even leave them without a business to protect. It has never been more important for business owners to consider cyber security for their business. While there have been numerous catastrophic breaches of global businesses and government departments in the news in recent months, these are only the tip of a very big iceberg. They are
■ 62% of breaches featured hacking (81% of hackingrelated breaches leveraged
annoying, there is no getting away
■ 51% included some form of malware ■ 43% were social attacks
■ 14% because of privilege
Cyber criminals look for easy targets they can pick off in a shorter time frame than the more complex attacks required to compromise a large corporate. The reward for hacking a large corporation is certainly likely be higher but it is harder to do, far more time consuming and more likely to lead to the exposure and arrest of the perpetrators.
processes up to date
passwords)
see on the surface. Below them is
businesses around the globe.
2. Keep your systems and Let’s face it software updates are
■ 14% were due to errors
attacks that are destroying lives and
steps to reduce the risk.
either stolen and/or weak
the big, highly visible, events that we mass of smaller, less media friendly,
potential target and taking positive
misuse ■ 8% were caused by physical actions To give a stark view of what these means to business, at the time of writing this, the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) Fraud and
from it and yes, they will happen at the worst time, normally when you are in a rush. But software updates are a key factor in maintaining a secure computer system. 3. Scrutinise every email Regardless of who that email looks to be from review it before you click any links or open any attachments. It can only take one wrong click of a mouse button for your system to be compromised.
Cyber Crime Dashboard reported
4. Forget pet/friend/family names
498,862 reports resulting in a loss of
People are creatures of habit. All too
£2.6 billion in the previous 13 months.
often the need for a new password
The highest point was July 2020 with
will result in the use of something
36,160 reports and a loss of £414.7
personal. It is time to forget those
Million, at its lowest point of May 2020
pets, friends and family member
proactive with their cyber security if
the report was still a hefty 29,394 and
names and start using more secure
they want to survive and thrive. One
a loss of £122.9 million. So, what can
passwords. Many internet browsers
small business in the UK is hacked
be done to mitigate the risk of being
and password managers will suggest
every 19 seconds so it is no longer a
a victim of cyber crime.
secure passwords for you.
Small business owners need to be
38 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources
