Cybercrime is on the rise as is the severity of attacks. Whether you’re a micro business, SME or large corporation, understanding how to safeguard your organisation against a breach is a crucial element to all-round success.
Knowing where to start with cyber resilience measures can appear to be a costly and complicated minefield but that’s a myth which the Cyber Resilience Centre for Wales (WCRC) is working hard to eradicate and re-educate business owners and decision makers.
The WCRC is a not-for-profit, police-led organisation run in partnership with the private sector and academia to guide Welsh businesses with their cyber resilience and awareness. Detective Superintendent Paul Peters, director of the WCRC, explains that establishing what potential threats you could experience is key, as knowledge is power.
Here’s a list of the most common ones businesses face:
- Social engineering –a unique type of cyber-attack that involves the criminal psychologically manipulating an individual in order to bypass security measures or gain sensitive information.
- Outdated software – software that is not able to withstand hacking technologies and methods or is no longer fit for purpose.
- Outdated hardware - as hardware becomes outdated it often cannot support updated security measures.
- Cloud vulnerabilities - while cloud services are widely used and often deemed as essential to many, it can open up the possibility of a wide range of cyber-attacks.
- Ransomware - attacks that infect a network and hold systems and data `hostage' until a ransom is paid.
- Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies - personal devices are also easier to hack than company devices thus giving criminals an opening to breach networks.
- Mobile security threats - encompasses everything from mobile spyware and malware - or malicious software - which encompasses viruses, worms and ransomware and is designed gain to unauthorised access to networks and devices (usually as a result of loss or theft.
- Internet of Things – meaning any device connected to the internet, from smartwatches to connected cars, criminals can exploit this connectivity.
- Third-party exposure - many businesses utilise third-party services, however, this does not make you exempt from the repercussions of a data breach on the side of your supply chain.
Find out how free membership to the Cyber Resilience Centre for Wales is a great place to start planning or re-evaluating your cyber strategy.