Month: October 2025

Cyber Awareness Training Data Breaches and their consequences Risk Analysis and Security Strategy Security

Innovation – Why Do Many Shy Away from it?

We are, by nature, somewhat reserved I think, and we like to trust the known and proven, rather than the unknown and as yet, unproven.  How many of us like to be the first to by the latest model of a car, or the latest ‘phone.  The same applies to our IT infrastructure and security.  Something might advertise some really great innovations, but we want to see someone else try it first, just to be sure.

I read an interesting piece where the thrust was that true innovation consists of doing now what you should have done ten years ago.  Harsh, maybe, but also fair.  I’m constantly reading industry surveys which highlight the low level of cybersecurity maturity amongst large firms and, increasingly, an even lower level amongst smaller firms.  We never seem to learn.

So, what are we referring to here.  In a nutshell, the creation and adoption of new technologies, strategies, and practices that improve the protection of digital systems, data, and networks from cyber threats. It goes beyond simply maintaining existing defences, it’s about staying ahead of attackers by introducing smarter, more efficient, and more resilient security methods.

My focus remains on SMEs, so I’ll skip more talk about the corporate world.  In conversation with people I’ve worked with for years, their anecdotal evidence supports the underlying truth of these surveys.  SMEs in particular struggle with the basics of good cybersecurity housekeeping, such as monitoring of basic network events, timely removal of user accounts, timely deployment of security patches, and revalidation of access level, particularly privileged access.  This list is far from exhaustive, and this message has been pushed over and over by cybersecurity professionals over the last 10-15 years, but SMEs continue to rely on technical solutions which simply don’t stack up in many areas.  Why?  Simple, because they are relying on local IT providers to give them solutions and those IT providers continue to push the technologies that they sell.  SME owners and managers are very reluctant to relinquish that argument.  Strange when often the best solutions are procedural and as such, much cheaper than a technology that probably doesn’t quite match up anyway.

Before we go any further, let’s briefly explore some issues that are common amongst SMEs.  Some common myths first:

  • Small to medium size businesses are not worth attacking.
  • Cyber Security is an IT Issue.
  • Technology will keep me safe.
  • My policies and procedures are up to the job.
  • My staff are young and have been brought up with IT.  They know the score.

Now let’s look at some of the more common issues that we see often amongst SMEs:

  • Lack of awareness around the current real-world cybersecurity risks
  • False sense of security, with a heavy reliance and dependence on an external IT third-party provider
  • Lack of cybersecurity knowledge, and understanding
  • Poor cybersecurity maturity and posture within their businesses
  • Lack of staff training (at all levels) – just like Health & Safety, cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility.

Back to the topic in hand, innovation and how and when should we be seriously considering it.  Ideally, we should be constantly looking for innovations, not just to keep us safe, but to encourage efficiency and cost savings, and I’m sure all SME owners would love to have the time and resource to do just that.  But we live in the real world and SMEs will be cost, and resource constrained.  But that’s not an excuse to not keep a weather eye on the need to innovate.  We live in a changing world and what we in the business call the threat landscape, changes constantly.  This simply means that threats evolve all the time, often to meet new circumstances, and AI for instance, is reducing the response time of cyber criminals to new technologies and changes in working patterns, to almost what is known as the zero day threat, ie zero days from the release of something new, to a threat being created to exploit it.

When COVID hit, many SMEs had to move very quickly to keep going, adopting remote working without the time or luxury of any real planning.  It was a knee jerk born of necessity and certainly not the way they would have liked to do it.  There are multiple cases of companies not having the necessary equipment, in terms of hardware, desktop, laptops etc, and allowing staff to work from home using their own home machines, connecting to both office and cloud-based systems, without any check on how those machines were configured, whether or not they were kept up to date with the latest patches, or whether they were used by other family members. 

In terms of equipment, cloud usage and some working practices, that situation is righting itself, sort of.  There are now surveys by HR consulting companies, suggesting that 60 to 70% of companies of all sizes are either planning to, or have adopted a hybrid model.  In the IT industry, particularly amongst IT consultancies, this model has been in use for many years and is well regarded, allowing the downsizing of office space and a lower cost base.  That new working model has arguably had the biggest effect on working practices and in turn, cyber security as it affects SMEs, since the innovation of IT itself. 

So, what needs to be done if hybrid working patterns are to continue?  Well, first and foremost comes your policies.  Do they reflect the new hybrid working model?  Have you laid down what is and what is not an acceptable use of company IT equipment if it’s being transported to a home address?  Do you allow the use of home machines, and have you laid down how those machines must be configured before they can be used for company business?  That list is not exhaustive.

Secondly comes user training.  Cyber awareness training for staff, along with a broad understanding of data protection principles, becomes even more important when staff are working from home.  It is a clear no brainer which many SMEs still don’t recognise as necessary.

Of course, those 2 things are hardly innovation, unless of course, you haven’t taken any of those measures and then it becomes innovative within your company.  Real innovation perhaps comes from reviewing the technologies you have in place, and have relied on, possibly for years.  Most, if not all those technologies will be based on the old bastion model of security, ie a network perimeter with a secure gateway, protecting your assets within that perimeter.  With the new working model, relying usually on cloud connectivity, your staff could be working in the office, at home, from a coffee shop etc etc.  You now have a mobile workforce.  What is needed is real innovation that protects your data regardless of where it is, technologies which themselves are cloud based, not caring where the end point it is monitoring actually is, whilst maintaining cost effective pricing.  This is something we’ve been at great pains to research and have now come up with such solutions.

Cyber Awareness Training Data Breaches and their consequences Identity and Access Management Ransomware, Phishing and other Malware Risk Analysis and Security Strategy

How one SME coped with the fall out of a cyber attack

We talk a lot about how to protect ourselves from cyber-attacks and the potential for how easy or difficult it is for cyber criminals to attack companies of all sizes and types, but we don’t often describe real events which could impact those companies until they actually happen, and then, we often only get the information that they want us to have.

So, we thought we’d try and do just that, albeit in a sanitised way (with permission) to protect the privacy of the company involved.

Background

The target was a small. To medium sized design agency based in the UK. They manage branding and marketing materials for a significant number of clients, many of whom share confidential product data and campaign details before public release.  And of course, the company held their own confidential data regarding their operations, finances and personnel.

For years, this agency relied on a mix of free antivirus software, shared passwords, and basic email communication. Like many SMEs, cybersecurity wasn’t seen as a priority until the day that all changed!

So, what happened?

One Friday morning, a manager noticed that all shared project files on their network drive had strange extensions and couldn’t be opened. A ransom note appeared on every folder:

“Your files have been encrypted. Pay x amount of Bitcoin to recover them.”

  • The team had been hit by ransomware.
  • Their business was paralysed, and they couldn’t access their admin and finance systems or their client work, deadlines loomed, and panic set in.

The IT contractor confirmed the bad news: a staff member had unknowingly clicked a link in a fake invoice email that mimicked a well-known supplier. The malware spread across the network overnight.

At this point many companies fall into complete disarray simply because they haven’t got a disaster recovery and business continuity plan and they have no way of operating their systems manually.  Management will be demanding to know how long they can manage without their IT systems and how long it will take to get everything up and running, without paying the ransom.   The IT company will be pressured about backups; are there any and if so when can they be restored, which is when of course they realise that without their systems, there is nothing to restore the backups to.

The IT company confirmed that they did have backups stored off-site as part of the contract but that daily backups were stored on site and that the onsite backup server was also compromised, and the off-site backups were taken once a week, which meant that as by this time it Tuesday, the off-site backups were 2 days old.  But much better than nothing.

The problem remained that they had deadlines to meet and if they didn’t want to lose clients and have their reputation in their industry shattered, they had very little time.  Reluctantly the management made the decision to pay the ransom which meant they had to go cap in hand for extra funding as they operated on tight margins and the ransom in pounds was close to £150k.

This got them back online and saved their projects and reputation but at a cost that really hurt and not just in financial terms, but in their pride as managers.  It really stung.  They knew that had to bite the bullet and take cyber security seriously.  They realised that their local IT company, although excellent in keeping their network up and running efficiently as well as providing their hardware and software, and kept strictly to the terms of the contract, was not going to protect them to the level that they needed.

The rebuild

Having got everything back up and running they were seriously worried that they might get hit again quickly, before they had a chance to sort things out.  There was no room for complacency but at the same time they had to go forward with a strategic plan.  So, they brought in a specialist cybersecurity company who guided them through a strategy to not just recover, but to protect themselves going forward.

One of the first things they learnt is that cyber security is a business issue and not a technical one.  Management must own it and understand it.  It starts with people, having the right people in the right place who understand, at least at a high level, the issues and how to take basic precautions to protect themselves and the business.  Then comes policy and process, coming down from the top, regularly reviewed and updated by management, and promulgated to all staff with regular reminders.  Once that’s in place we can look at technology.  Noone had articulated that to them before.

The first thing their new cyber partner did was to devise a high-level strategy that the company could adopt going forward.  They explained that it needn’t be complicated and in fact, the simpler and easier to understand, the better.  Keep tech jargon out of it and use plain English.  They came up with a plan which identified some quick wins to protect them quickly, before coming up with more detailed projects that could be phased in over time.

The quick wins were:

  1. Cyber awareness training for all staff including management.  Let’s make sure no one ever clicks a link they shouldn’t.  The training should be done at induction and then refreshed regularly throughout the year.  It can be run by the HR staff or a HR company under contract if that is the case.
  • Produce policies starting with a high-level policy signed off by the CEO which clearly outlines everyones responsibility for cyber security and who is responsible for the detailed polices which will underpin this top-level policy.
  • Enforced multi factor authentication (MFA) for all logins and a password manager to replace the spreadsheets they were using.

This is then followed by more detailed projects phased in over time.  The phasing helps to ensure that there is not too much disruption to the business operations and that staff can be carried along with it, ensuring their buy in.  It also helps to make sure that it fits in with the company budget and doesn’t hit the bottom line all at once.  It included:

  1. An examination of the contract with the IT company and making any revisions that might be necessary.  For example, the back-up regime.
  • Migrated to a cloud-based file system with built-in versioning and encryption (in this case MS365 was chosen which is a favourite go to for SMEs and was offered by their IT support company).
  • Every employee completed simulated phishing exercises as part of the awareness training.
  • A detailed incident response plan was produced which clearly detailed who was responsible for what, who to contact and what to do, in a prioritised order.  It also outlined a business continuity plan written by departmental heads, showing how the company would continue to operate whilst systems are recovered.
  • Identification of assets, i.e. databases, client information, HR data, financial data, project plans etc, to prioritise what data needs to be protected to what level.
  • Identity and access management review with a view to moving to a zero-trust access control system.
  • Consider applying for cyber essentials certification.

The Outcome

Within six months, they were back on track and stronger, much more resilient. They were, like most companies, hit with phishing attempts all the time but their employees were trained to recognise them instantly and knew who to report it to. No one clicked the link.

Clients noticed the change, too. The company started to include a short “data protection and security” statement in their contracts, which won them new business. Larger clients trusted them more because they could prove their cyber resilience.  They were now committed to Cyber Essentials and would include that logo on their website and advertising as soon as they qualified.

The big lesson

Their experience shows that cybersecurity isn’t just an IT issue — it’s a business survival issue.  Even small steps, awareness, MFA, and secure backups, can transform an SME from a target into a resilient organisation.

Cyber Awareness Training Data Breaches and their consequences General Security Issues Identity and Access Management Ransomware, Phishing and other Malware Risk Analysis and Security Strategy Security Working Practices

Cyber Security Strategies for SMEs

What is a Cyber Security Strategy

A cyber security strategy is a plan that outlines an organisation’s approach to protecting its information systems and data from cyber threats. This strategy typically includes measures such as implementing security controls, conducting regular risk assessments, training employees on security best practices, monitoring network activity for suspicious behaviour, and responding to security incidents in a timely manner. The goal of a cyber security strategy is to minimise the risk of cyber-attacks and protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of an organisation’s sensitive information.

Do I really need that – I’m an SME and not really a target, am I?

Well yes, you are a target and there are a ton of statistics available which shows that SMEs globally are a very real target for cyber-attacks and can in fact, be very profitable for cyber criminals.  There are a lot of reasons for that but one of the top reasons is that typically, SMEs spend very little on cyber defence and generally have very weak defences.  Add to this that they don’t tend to carry out cyber awareness training for their staff, have limited resources and generally don’t have a good grasp of the issues.

Not their fault.  Most are focused on their core business, trying make a quid or two and are pressed for time.  They tend to rely on whatever company, usually local, that supplied their network, hardware and software, generally on a retainer.  The problem is that those companies don’t really have a good grasp of the issues either, concentrating on technology, and then, not necessarily the right technology.

When it comes to cybersecurity governance and management, there is no “one size fits all” approach.  In today’s threat landscape we need to fully understand that cyber security is not a purely technical problem, focused on hardware and endpoint protection and on operations within the organisational perimeter.  Today we are dealing with cloud storage, in office and remote working, data at rest and in transit, involving security at every point along the route.

It is critical that someone within the organisation has to take responsibility for cyber security and that person must have a seat on the Board. A Board-level response is not just appropriate; it is essential.

Secure by default and design

Now that’s an interesting title, but what does it mean?  Secure by default and design means that a system or product is inherently built with security measures in place from the start. This ensures that security is a priority throughout the development process and that users can trust that their data and information will be protected. It also means that security features are enabled by default, reducing the risk of vulnerabilities or breaches. This approach helps to create a more robust and resilient system that is better equipped to withstand potential threats.

It applies as much to your network and systems as it does to software development and possibly more importantly to you, it is a legal requirement under the Data Protection Act 2018, or as it is becoming known, UK GDPR.

The first problem many people come up against is that they already have a network, probably connected to the cloud of some sort, very possibly for SMEs, MS365, but when the design was done, there wasn’t a full risk assessment undertaken which is a requirement to underpin that design.  In other words what we in the cyber security industry refer to as Security Architecture Design (SAD), wasn’t a prominent consideration.

Not unusual and the common technologies were probably set up, firewalls and anti-virus, but not much else.  And that is where a well thought out strategy comes into play.

What should I be considering in my Cyber Security Strategy

We’ve already said you are an SME, so do you need the sort of comprehensive cyber security strategy that we would see in a major corporate?  No, but it should still cover off the major points and should continue to be reviewed alongside things like your Health and Safety policy and other industry standards that are required to be reviewed for you to stay in business, usually annually.

You need to be thinking about the key components needed to effectively protect an organisation’s digital assets and data. These components may include:

1. Risk assessment: Assessing potential cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities to identify areas of weakness and prioritise areas for improvement.

      2. Security policies and procedures: Establishing clear and enforceable policies and procedures for data protection, access control, incident response, and other security-related activities.

      3. Employee training: Providing ongoing training and education to employees on cyber security best practices, such as password management, phishing awareness, and safe browsing habits.

      4. Security tools and technologies: Implementing robust security tools and technologies, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, encryption software, security monitoring tools and data protection tools, and endpoint protection solutions.

      5. Incident response plan: Developing a detailed incident response plan that outlines the steps to be taken in the event of a security breach or cyber-attack, including communication protocols, containment measures, and recovery strategies.

      6. Regular audits and testing: Conducting regular security audits and penetration testing to assess the effectiveness of existing security measures and identify any vulnerabilities that need to be addressed.

      7. Collaboration with external partners: Establishing a partnership with cyber security company that understands the issues that affect SMEs and who themselves can establish a solid working relationship with the IT provider that is providing and administering your network and IT resources, will enhance your protections, significantly improve your employee and managerial awareness of the issues, and provide you with the peace of mind you need, allowing you to concentrate on your core business.

      Cyber Awareness Training Data Breaches and their consequences Identity and Access Management Risk Analysis and Security Strategy Working Practices

      Cyber Maturity

      What do we mean by cyber maturity?  It’s not just about the protections you may have in place, but more about how well your organisation understands the importance of it and its place in your overall business strategy.  It is after all a business issue, not a technical issue and needs to be treated as such. Modern security solutions are increasingly complicated and challenging. These complexities change all the time and with the changes in working patterns and the introduction of AI now at the hands of the cyber criminals, they require a broad understanding of cyber security. Very few SMEs possess this level of expertise and can find themselves struggling to protect themselves and rectify security risks discovered within their business. In a climate of frequent, and potentially devastating, malicious activity organisations need targeted, rapid remediation and effective solutions. In doing this they will improve specific areas of their security systems, reduce their level of exposure and minimise potential losses, which can be very significant.

      Many small and mid-size businesses struggle to combat the threat that cybercrime poses. A simple piece of malware or a social engineering event, can result in the loss of sensitive company and client data, disrupt business and waste staff time. Such incidents are commonly sensationalised by the media, causing client defection and damage to hard-earned reputations, resulting in significant loss of business.

      I’ve described the risk management process before, and I know it can be a bit daunting, and many would fear it’s costs and complexity.  That is why we have designed and taken into use the Cyber Maturity Assessment (CMA), specifically for SMEs which will enable them to go down the risk management road at a pace and price they can afford.  The CMA is designed to obtain a view of where a client sits currently in terms of their Cyber Security posture. It is obtained from the results of interview with the staff, examination of current policies and procedures, including their effectiveness, security architecture and technical controls, and observations to gain an understanding of cyber security by management and staff. It is designed to provide a report which shows a client exactly where they sit in terms of Cyber Risk in a way that is demonstrable and east to understand. It gives a client a starting point from which H2 consultants will be able to scope any problems.

      What Does a Cyber Maturity Assessment Give Me?

      In brief, the CMA is designed to:

      • Understand and define the target state of the system i.e., where does the client want to be in terms of Cyber maturity – in defining the target state there must be a clear understanding of the business drivers, future business demands and business dependencies affecting the organisational area under examination.
      • Understand the current level of Cyber maturity – At this point the matter of cyber maturity will be a somewhat subjective view, obtained from the results of interviews with staff and initial observations by H2 consultants. This element is not intended to replace a detailed understanding, but to provide an initial view and start point, from which H2 consultants will be able to scope the problem and recommend any remediation required, in a phased way.

      We measure both the starting point and the end point using the Carnegie Melon Cyber Maturity Model.  I know other consultancies will use other models for this, but this is one that we have found to be effective, both for SMEs and in the corporate world.  It looks like this:

      I mentioned earlier that this is something used in the corporate world and whilst that’s true it is a matter of scale and need.  Most corporates would have the requirement and budget to aim high, say at around CMMI4 (5 is rarely hit).  For most SMEs that’s a step too far and as a rule of thumb, when we do this, we tend to find we’re starting at around 0.8 to 1.5 with the aim to get to CMMI 2 as soon as is feasible, with the end game at CMMI 3 which is affordable for most SMEs if a phased approach is taken.

      At the end of this initial process and SME is rarely able to just jump in and accept the recommendations and get on with fixing them.  It can be a complex issue requiring a hard look at their staff in terms of cyber awareness training, their policies and processes and their technical solutions, all aimed at prioritising the protections required for each asset in accordance with their vulnerabilities and threats.

      A phased approach is almost always needed, often aligned with budgets.  It can look a bit like this:

      The first transformation project tends to be what we term the Quick Wins Phase ie what can we do relatively easily, quickly and therefore affordably, to give the client the most urgent fixes.  It often, but not always, looks like this:

      This has just been a very quick cantor through the CMA process, and we need to emphasise that each client has a different set of requirements, and we can often jump into the process at a different stage. Call us if you want to know more.

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