How real is the cyber attack threat?
Many businesses across the UK are facing the threat of cyber attack but lack the insight and means to tackle the issue, a new survey claims.
EY’s annual Global Information Security Survey titled ‘Get Ahead of Cybercrime’ discovered that the risk of cyber attack is growing for more than two-thirds (67%) of businesses.
Despite this, 37% of firms do not have the tools to protect themselves from attacks, meaning personal and business information could be at risk.
This could potentially cause many issues for companies as problems could cost vast sums of money to put right.
For companies where finances are particularly tight, this could result in the need to enter administration or take other steps to get the company running again.
A lack of vital skills
According to the report, companies lack the agility, budgets and skills to mitigate risks and vulnerabilities related to cyber security.
Despite the increased level of cyber threat, 43% of firms said their IT security budgets would remain unchanged in the coming year and in most cases there would be only a marginal increase from 2013 when 46% of businesses said budgets would remain unchanged.
A lack of skilled resources was named as another key issue by more than half of firms while only 5% of those surveyed having dedicated IT staff to tackle issues such as security threats.
Similar figures existed in 2013, suggesting that many firms have done little to reduce the risk of cyber attacks on their businesses in the past twelve months.
Another major issue listed was careless or unaware employees that do not protect vulnerable data in the right way. Some 38% of firms said tackling this was their first priority while outdated security controls and cloud computing security were other issues to overcome.
Of all the threats, stealing financial information, disrupting an organisation and stealing intellectual property or data were listed as the most concerning.
Damage to brands and reputation can be just as bad as any financial losses while losing a competitive advantage over a rival could also spell trouble for a business in the long-run.
By Phil Smith