SME Small Business Cyber Security Recovery, Prevention and Protection Services

“Si vis pacem, para bellum” is attributed to Plato which translates to “If you want peace, prepare for war”. Obviously all of us want a reliable business, but in order to achieve this we need to plan and act for the worse – and not bury your head in the sand in the hope that you will not be targetted.

52% of UK businesses fell victim to some form of cyber security crime in 2020 at a cost of £29.1 billion according to research published in January 2021.

That is double the rate in 2018- when 24% of all UK companies admitted that they had suffered a cyber security incident.

Given that the Gloucestershire Constabulary announced in December 2020 that within Gloucestershire 54 per cent of all reported crime was cyber related, that’s a pretty good way of looking at the issue.

It was also acknowledged that this figure is probably significantly higher due to under reporting and banks refunding account thefts directly.

Ranging from disruption to service, ransoms, loss of reputation and brand to litigation from staff and customers as well as fines for lost data the implications are real and varied.

Large scale cyber security breaches make the headlines but about 70% of organisations are not reporting their worst security incidents- so what is making the news is just a small proportion of the breaches that are actually taking place.

For small organisations the worst breaches cost between £65,000 and £115,000 on average and for large organisations may run to many millions of pounds. These costs can occur as direct financial losses due to fraud or theft; the loss of productivity due to time spent recovering from the effects of a successful attack; or the lost of trust and reputation.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has found that small firms are unfairly carrying the cost of cyber crime in an increasingly vulnerable digital economy.

The report Cyber Crime: How to protect small firms in the digital economy suggests smaller firms are collectively attacked seven million times per year, costing the UK economy an estimated £5.26 billion.

Overall 24% of ALL businesses surveyed had had one or more cyber security breaches in the past 12 months.

Large scale cyber security breaches make the headlines but about 70% of organisations are not reporting their worst security incidents- so what is making the news is just a small proportion of the breaches that are actually taking place.

For small organisations the worst breaches cost between £65,000 and £115,000 on average and for large organisations may run to many millions of pounds. These costs can occur as direct financial losses due to fraud or theft; the loss of productivity due to time spent recovering from the effects of a successful attack; or the lost of trust and reputation.

According to the latest report by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), there were 5.8 million incidents of cyber security crime and fraud in the 12 months in 2020, affecting one in 10 people in England and Wales.

Just over half of the fraud incidents were cyber security related, with 28% of these being non-investment fraud relating to online shopping or computer service calls. Some 68% of computer misuse crimes were related to malware and 32% were from unauthorised access to personal information including hacking.

However, the ONS cyber security crime and fraud figures are an estimate – as specific questions relating to cyber crime were only added to the survey in October 2017 following a field trial.

According to the ONS, cyber security crime now makes up 40% of all recorded criminal incidents.

The technical capabilities of cyber criminals continue to outpace the UK’s ability to deal with cyber threats.

For the majority of organisations, the main two lessons to take from these statistics are the rapid evolution of cyber crime, and the number of threats that any individual or organisation will face.

As a result investment tends to flow into areas where it will be most productive, and crime is no different. How safe do you think your organisation still is?

If you want to save yourself stress, money and a damaged reputation from a cyber incident – for a cyber security incident prevention, protection and training please ring us now on 03333 393 139 or email assist@cyber139.com or complete the form on our contact page NOW