The BBC reported this morning that the proportion of UK firms reporting a cyber-attack has jumped, despite most businesses admitting they are under-prepared for breaches, according to research from Hiscox. The insurer found 55% had faced an attack in 2019, up from 40% last year. But almost three quarters of firms were ranked as “novices” in terms of cyber readiness.
Tim Mackey, Senior Technical Evangelist at Synopsys:
“It would be fair to say that all businesses, independent of jurisdiction, are under constant cyber threat. The real question is whether they realise it or not. For example, smaller more local businesses may opt for an online store-front provisioned and managed by a third party. In so doing, the shop owner transfers cyber responsibility to that third party. The problem with this model is that the shop owner likely lacks the resources to vet whether the provider has deployed their online platform in a secure manner or is otherwise abiding by the regulations the shop owner is subject to. We need look only at recent reports of unsecured databases to see that if the platform provider fails to properly secure the underlying database, it may be possible for malicious individuals to obtain purchase records, client lists or other sensitive information.
In order to mitigate these risks, business owners should ask ongoing and probative questions of any third-party providers’ security operations. Key of those relate to the processes to secure personal data in any form, in addition to securing business data. This review should obviously occur at the time of procurement, but should also happen as new regulations appear or as major threats are disclosed. In the end, the security posture of any business is a function of how each provider approaches security which makes identifying weak links imperative.”
