1/3 of UK businesses suffered IT breaches in 2019, even though 70% have IT security.
32% of all UK businesses identified IT security breaches in the last 12 months – and alarmingly 60% of those were large and medium-sized companies.
These breaches occurred in spite of the fact that seven in ten businesses have invested some level of spending in IT and cyber security, with 33% of them having formal cyber security policies in place.
The shocking findings come according to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019.
UK businesses of all sizes invest money into IT and cyber security for several reasons. The most common reason is to protect customer data, followed by preventing fraud or theft and protecting assets such as cash or intellectual property.
IT and cyber security breaches can be extremely costly for business. The average annual cost for a company which lost data as a result of breaches was £4,180 this year, an increase on the average cost in 2018.
The question remains: why are companies which have invested in IT security and training still regularly suffering security breaches?
It’s important to start by identifying the most common security breaches. These include staff falling victim to phishing attacks, fraudulent emails and online impersonations of an organisation, and malware and viruses.
IT security breaches can occur even with IT support – the most common reason being human error in opening phishing emails or unsecure links. A lack of staff awareness around backing up data and creating strong passwords can also lead to security breaches. We offer a wide range of staff training and guidance for clients to help them understand how best to protect against these types of breaches.
A third reason why IT security breaches occur is down to machines or devices that have dropped out of IT’s sight. At Consider IT, we regularly carry out vulnerability scanning to source and resolve any issues or concerns we come across. We also manage and maintain our client’s servers and endpoint patching, and update systems weekly.
At this point, the general thought towards IT security and cyber security breaches is that it’s likely going to happen and there’s no real concrete way to stop it if an attacker is dedicated enough.
We recommend taking a proactive approach to IT security as this is much more effective than waiting for a breach to happen and reacting after the damage has been done. We focus on reducing the impact of breaches and ensuring our clients can recover swiftly and easily if a security breach does occur.
For company-wide safety, we offer a wide range of staff training programmes to ensure clients are in the safest hands. Through our Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus schemes, we offer easy solutions to sometimes complex problems. Our human touch puts your people at the heart of your tailor-made security plan that won’t skimp on productivity.
Protect you data, your network and your people by talking to our team today. Get in touch with us on 0131 510 0110 or [email protected] to find out more about our IT support services.
