There have been a number of high profile cyber attacks reported in the media this year – shipping giant Maersk lost $200m in an attack; courier TNT was severely affected by the same incident; and the NHS has suffered a number of ransomware attacks – to name but a few.
It’s been reported in the media today that the NHS left themselves vulnerable to attack because they did not follow recommendations on cyber security. Before the attack took place an assessment found they did not reach the required cyber security standards and had not acted on advice to patch or move away from vulnerable older software. This failure to act has been blamed on a lack of time, resources and also lack of focus.
How confident are you that your own business is safe? What would be the financial impact if you were to suffer an attack? What would you do if someone was preventing you from accessing your own systems? Do you know what sort of insurance is available to protect you online? The Association of British Insurers have produced this online guide to cyber insurance to help you understand what steps you need to take to guard against cyber crime.
What risks are businesses facing?
According to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2017, almost half (46%) of UK businesses identified at least one cyber security breach in the last 12 months. These included:
- Staff receiving fraudulent emails (72% of breaches)
- Malware viruses (33%)
- Individuals impersonating the organisation in emails or online (27%)
- Ransomware (17%)
What is the impact of these attacks?
Cyber attacks tend to have a detrimental impact on affected businesses, whether they are large corporates or small enterprises. Of those surveyed, 41% (nearly 20% of all UK businesses) reported detrimental consequences, including:
- Temporary loss of files or network access (23%)
- Systems being corrupted (20%)
For more than half of businesses, such attacks resulted in them having to either take additional protective measures or staff spending extra time putting things right.
What steps should you take to protect your business?
Many security experts believe businesses should focus efforts on identifying breaches as soon as possible and responding to minimise the harm they can do. One recommendation is to segment the business’ network so that if hackers breach the firewall they are only able to access the data in that segment, thus minimising the impact.
Many companies have been ignoring cyber risk for too long or think that their existing business insurance package covers this type of risk. In fact 38% of businesses think they have cyber insurance, when the reality shows this is certainly not the case.
At Anthony Jones we can help you understand the risk your business faces and put measures in place to protect you against attack. Why not download the guide to cyber insurance today and give us a call to arrange cover?
