Businesses and charities should strengthen their cyber security practices, as new figures show that cyber-attacks are increasing.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is issuing a note declaring it is not aware of any current specific cyber threats to UK organisations concerning events around Ukraine, however, the NCSC encourages organisations to follow simple steps in its guidance to reduce the risk of falling victim to an attack.
Small businesses should adopt the Cyber Essentials scheme to protect against the most common cyber threats such as phishing attacks and use the Small Business Guide to improve cyber security practices.
Larger organisations should use the Board Toolkit to get company executives to act on cyber resilience, and charities should follow the Small Charity Guide to boost cyber security operations.
Gareth Dalton, Managing Director of Techn22, comments: “Protecting your business and employees against cyber-attacks is more prevalent than ever before. You simply can’t take it for granted that you will not fall foul to some form of cyber event. Just some simple checks on your systems can make all the difference”.
Actions businesses can take to improve security and protect against a cyber threat include:
- Check your system patching
- Verify access controls
- Ensure defences are working
- Monitor key logs and antivirus logs
- Review your backups and perform test restorations
- Ensure your incident response plan is up to date
- Check that records of your external internet-facing footprint are correct and up to date
- Understand the security practices of your third parties and know their access
- Brief your wider organisation and make sure everyone knows how to report suspected security events
- Consult with an external cyber specialist who will undertake an independent review of your current cyber resilience and provide a gap analysis for improvement based on recognised best practices
For further information about Techn22’s IT Support and iServices, including our Virtual IT Director service and Cyber Security & Awareness, contact Gareth Dalton on T: 0208 152 4000 or E: hello@techn22.co.uk.
Techn22 offer IT and cloud technologies that benefit end-users and enable growth, along with the flexibility of an experienced IT professional when your business needs it. Ensuring you have a voice at board-level driving strategic investment, efficient use of technology, and helping to mitigate against cyber risk.
