The Government and industry leaders in cyber security want to make the country the safest place to do business in the digital world. Today, cyber threats pose one of the biggest dangers to the economy and businesses are being urged to take action to protect themselves.
In the last year, 90% of large organisations and 74% of small businesses (up to 500 employees) experienced a security breach, an increase from 81% and 60% respectively on the year before. 59% of organisations which responded to the survey expect additional security issues in the coming year.
THE LATEST ANNUAL CYBER SECURITY SURVEY, conducted in 2015 on behalf of the UK Government by consultancy firm PwC, draws a startling picture of the threat businesses large and small are facing. In this article, Business Talk provides the top line results of the survey of nearly 700 businesses, 50% of which were SMEs.
The survey showed that larger corporations are prone to more frequent and more severe breaches, but that smaller businesses are increasingly susceptible to malicious security breaches as shown in the chart.
The cost of a security breach
For small businesses the survey revealed that most serious breach cost between £75k and £311k. The larger an organisation is, the greater the risk of a breach and the higher the associated cost becomes.
Cyber-attacks can also have a severe impact on a company’s reputation. For smaller businesses the survey showed a significant increase in adverse media coverage.
For businesses that want to defend against a cyber-attack, staff must be properly trained in cyber security to understand the risks, be equipped to identify them and take appropriate action. At the same time, it’s essential to put in place the correct systems and configurations, as well as clear policies to protect the business from the growing menace of cyber-attacks.
Read more on cyber security at – Amshire Business Talk