Cyber security – something which affects everyone

Cyber crime is an issue for all businesses with a digital presence. During 2021, ransomware attacks grew by 100% and about a third of organisations were victim to some form of attack. According to Accenture, 43% of cyber-attacks are aimed at SME’s, but only 14% are actively prepared to defend themselves. The insurance company Hiscox estimates the average cost impact of a cyber attack is $200,000, with 60% of the smaller companies going out of business within six months of an attack.

These are startling figures which should concern every business, Neil McGowan, Miss Group’s CTO, says. “Cyber crime comes in many forms, including ransomware, phishing, data theft (financial, personal and/or intellectual property) and stopping business operations (DDOS). No business can afford to ignore this threat, but due to its complexity, many do not have adequate protection.”

At Miss Group, we take cyber security very seriously, building protection into the digital services and experiences we provide to customers and employees. This can take the form of security built into the fabric of the data centre and network infrastructure we manage, or can be provided as a set of add-on services customers can choose to take, depending on the sensitivity of data and processing activity customers are running on our cloud infrastructure.

Neil adds: “We group these add-ons into seven product families and provide market leading solutions for each security function. Cyber security is more than simply deploying software products, as hackers also attack through weaknesses in operational processes and communication channels, such as e-mail, chat and smartphone. It’s important that businesses invest time in understanding what risks they face and, therefore, which protective products they need.”

Miss Group uses a five-step approach to assessing and improving your cyber defences, as recommended by NIST Cyber Security Framework - used by the US to evaluate cybersecurity risks.?

1.????Identify the risks – Identify the main business and commercial cyber security risks your organisation faces. This will be affected by your organisation structure, sensitive business data, IT systems and the key business processes your operation needs to protect

2.????Protect – Implement a series of protection solutions, such as passwords, SSL certificates and Virtual Private Networks to restrict or prevent a potential attack. This can also include penetration testing of your systems to identify doors and windows which have been left open.

3.????Detect – Implement activities to enable you to identify if a cybersecurity attack is happening, such as anti-malware/virus solutions and electronic detection of unusual activity.

4.????Respond – Use software and processes to provide rapid response and contain the impact an attack. This can include EDR software, Security Operations Monitoring and Denial of Service protection (DDOS)

5.????Recover – If hackers have been successful in breaching your systems, typically they encrypt/steal your data and cause havoc by damaging your IT infrastructure. Businesses need to ensure they have adequate backup and restore capabilities to enable them to rapidly rebuild systems and restore business operations.

“Governments have recognised that businesses can often ignore basic cyber security as they find it too complicated, but taking advice from your web host company can help to start your journey off on the right foot. With cyber crime becoming so prevalent, it’s vital that businesses invest time and money in protecting their hard-earned digital assets,” concludes Neil.