Businesses urged to boost cyber standards as a third suffer cyber attacks weekly

Businesses and charities are being urged to strengthen their cyber-security practices now as new figures show the frequency of cyber attacks is increasing.
Almost one in three businesses (31 per cent) and a quarter (26 per cent) of charities suffering attacks said they now experience breaches or attacks at least once a week.

Although the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022 report from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) revealed the frequency of cyber attacks is rising, the number of businesses that experienced an attack or breach remained the same as 2021 levels. Almost a third of charities (30 per cent) and two in five businesses (39 per cent) reported cyber-security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued a note declaring it is not aware of any current specific cyber threats to UK organisations in relation to events around Ukraine, but is encouraging organisations to follow simple steps in its guidance to reduce the risk of falling victim to an attack.

Small businesses should adopt the Cyber Essentials scheme to protect against the most common cyber threats such as phishing attacks and use the Small Business Guide to improve cyber-security practices. Larger organisations should use the Board Toolkit to get company executives to act on cyber resilience and charities should follow the Small Charity Guide to boost cyber-security operations.

Cyber Minister Julia Lopez said it is vital that every organisation take cyber security seriously as more and more business is done online and we live in a time of increasing cyber risk.

Following a wave of high-profile attacks over the past year including on Kaseya, Colonial Pipeline and Microsoft Exchange, there has been increased attention on the cyber security of supply chains and digital services.

Four out of five senior managers (82 per cent) in UK businesses now see cyber security as a “very high” or “fairly high” priority, up from 77 per cent in 2021. This is a significant increase and the highest figure seen in any year of the cyber-security breaches survey.

Source Financial Accountant click here to read more.