Last year we saw the largest rise in cyber-crime rates in history. It’s unfortunate, but cyber-criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated and are taking full advantage of the increase in technology and remote workers within businesses. Cybercrime rates are rising and the latest facts surrounding cyber-criminals and their recent success only back this.
1) Social Engineering is the No.1 way cyber-criminals pull off a successful data breach
Social engineering is the tactic used by cyber-criminals all over the world and is the number one cause of cyber-security breaches. Social engineering is the tactic of manipulating or tricking an employee or business owner
With so many human error-related threats out there from phishing, and password cracking, to poor cyber hygiene and on-site exposure, keeping your business safe from human risk-related threats can be difficult.
Implementing solutions such as Bitwarden for managing and generating passwords, and Usecure for mitigating human risk through statistics, calculations, and tests, will help tackle the root cause of data breaches through your employees. to handing over important credentials or identification without having to use a single-line of malware code.
Learn More About Social Engineering HERE
2) 43% Of Cyber-Criminals Attack Small Businesses
It’s a common misconception that cyber-criminals only want to attack large businesses. It’s understandable; wouldn't criminals target the businesses with the most to take? Unfortunately, that's not the case. Whilst large companies have more data, cyber-criminals understand that these businesses have likely put the time and money needed into efficiently protecting their business. Small businesses, on the other hand, have less data to steal but have safeguards rarely as strong as a large organisation.
Find out how we keep SMEs Safe HERE
3) One of the Biggest Threats to Data Safety Can Come From BYOD
Post-pandemic BYOD (bring your own device) is bigger than ever. Now that many employees work from home and the office it makes more sense for them to use their own devices to work.
In many cases when staff bring personal devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones into work, they are not protected by the company’s security network, which presents an opportunity for hackers to directly access company data through these devices. Be particularly vigilant in the period after Christmas when new devices are being used for the first time.
Learn more about the pros, and cons, of BYOD HERE.jpg?width=6720&height=4480&name=wes-hicks-4-EeTnaC1S4-unsplash%20(2).jpg)
4) IT can take an average of 287 days to address and contain a data breach
Most businesses that experience a breach are taken advantage of for almost a year before they ever even realise, they have been hit with a cyber-attack. During this time hackers could access passwords personal information and important files.
Many businesses don’t have the time or money needed to monitor this in-house and so they choose to partner with a trusted MSP like ourselves. When businesses partner with the entrust IT group to manage their services, we monitor their systems vigorously to insure no breaches have been made. If the worst was to happen and a company did fall victim due to an incident out of our control we would be able to quickly address and amend the issue.
Learn the real costs of IT downtime HERE
5) One Small Business in the UK is Successfully Hacked Every 19 Seconds
There are approximately 65000 attacks on medium and small businesses in the UK every day, and 4500 of them are successful. That equates to 1.6 million of the 5.6 million SMBs that have attempted attacks. Nothing is more time-consuming than dealing with the time and effort it takes to bring down the rate of cyber attacks but nothing is more time-consuming than that.
Find out how we keep SMEs Safe HERE
6) 82% of Organisations Have Increased Their Cyber-Security Budgets Over the Last Year
One of the biggest investments into IT in businesses continues to be security and risk management. These investments account for up to 15% of total IT spending, according to Accenture’s state of cyber-security resilience 2021 report. Company leaders must be the driving force behind cyber-security initiatives and make it a priority within their organizations.
There is no better time to invest in your IT security than now. Managing IT in-house can be an expensive and time consuming task. Business owners who understand their time is better spent on their core roles but still want state-of-the-art cyber-security know that partnering with an MSP is the right move.
When we partner with a business we go further than most, we take the time to understand your business, its goals, strengths and weaknesses and then build a long-term plan accordingly whilst offering our advice and expertise along the way. We provide our partners with hardware, licenses and security at justifiable prices with flexible terms.
Find out how you can reduce IT expedutre whilst still staying secure HERE
Stay Cyber-Safe in 2023
With cyber-crime on the rise being in control of your company's data is more important than ever. Phishing rates are increasing, human error is becoming more prevalent and cyber-security budgets are growing across the board. It's clear IT and data will be a number one priority for businesses in 2023 and hopefully, the facts we've looked at have prompted you to review your cyber-security safeguards.
Even if you’re a small business with a limited budget, you can achieve enterprise-level security by working with an experienced managed service provider, such as entrust IT Group. We leverage the latest cyber-security technology to monitor your systems 24/7 and have a step-by-step plan to mitigate and respond to risks. Our highly trained experts will perform a full security sweep of your network and devices to identify threats and weaknesses, and then, we’ll fix them.
Feel ready to put your cyber-security concerns to rest? Find out what we can do to protect and manage your business IT by getting in contact with one of our experienced consultants HERE