Following this morning’s crime figures announcement from ONS, statistics on computer misuse indicate a decline from last quarter. Mark McClain, CEO & Co-Founder at SailPoint commented below.
Mark McClain, CEO & Co-Founder at SailPoint:
“The decrease in cybercrime cases demonstrates the beginning of an advantageous trend for the UK’s digital landscape.
“It is imperative that businesses continue to make proactive changes to their data protection strategies. This ensures that greater security obligations are met, in line with the UK government’s more hands-on approach to cyber security.
“The National Cyber Security Strategy published by the Government last year lays out the vision for greater cybersecurity in the UK, with the goal of making the nation’s online environment the safest in the world by 2021. GCHQ puts the cybercrime threat on a par with fighting terrorism, showing a clear escalation of the dangers we face in our digital landscape.
“Identity has become the new attack vector. ID fraud is often the result of poor ‘password hygiene’ with individuals using the same credentials and passwords across both personal and business accounts. And UK businesses are aware of the dangers – a quarter cite poor paKssword hygiene as an area for major concern in their organisation. With such prevalent weak password management, cyber criminals are able to easily access account information and steal personal credentials, which can in turn expose organisations to risk.
“To continue to drive down cases of cybercrime and its wider effects, businesses can’t rely on government initiatives alone. Companies must take proactive steps to mitigate threats by developing a user-focused defence strategy focused on managing user identities and protecting personally identifiable information. This approach will ensure there is complete visibility across entire systems, making it easier to locate potential vulnerabilities and protect from the debilitating effects of data breaches and leaks.”
