Data Breaches and their consequences Archives - Page 4 of 8

An Increase in sophistication in cyber-attacks in 2025

There is a lot of discussion about AI, it’s benefits to society in general and its undoubted downside. It’s a fascinating subject and AI can really become the gift that keeps on giving, but a downside for those of us concerned with cyber security, and really that should be all of us, is that we’ve always played catch up to the cyber criminals, trying and often failing to anticipate what the next attack will be, what the next series of attacks will be. Will it be ransomware, denial of service or perhaps a new and more sophisticated scam? Who knows? And there is no doubt that AI is raising the bar.

I have talked a lot about the re-emergence of the script kiddie and how AI in enabling this breed of wannabe criminals. For those who maybe don’t now, a script kiddie was a low level, part skilled hacker, who downloaded scripts from the dark web, put there by the more competent hacker who hoped to sell them. The script kiddie would use those scripts to try and attack targets. But it’s also true that the more skilled and sophisticated criminal is making use of AI and finding new and innovative ways of relieving you of your hard-earned cash.

What we are seeing in 2025 is an era where cyber‑attacks are AI‑powered, highly targeted, automated, supply‑chain enabled, multi‑stage, and geopolitically driven. These attacks exploit weaknesses across credential systems, zero‑day exploits, deepfake tools, and ransomware as a service (RaaS) platforms.

We are in an accelerating digital arms race that calls for AI‑driven defence capabilities, real‑time insights, deception environments, zero‑trust architectures, and quantum‑safe cryptography.

a. AI-powered precision and scale

Cybercriminals are leveraging AI to automate vulnerability scans at astonishing speeds, up to 36,000 scans per second, resulting in massive volumes of stolen credentials (1.7 billion) and drastic upticks in targeted attacks.
AI is also generating hyper-realistic phishing messages, deepfake audio/video, and even “CEO fraud” to manipulate individuals into transferring funds, like a deepfake trick that siphoned US $25 M in Hong Kong.

b. Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) 3.0

RaaS platforms now enable less skilled attackers to run ransomware, complete with support and updates. Over 70% of attacks now use these services.
Attackers have shifted to double/triple extortion schemes, encrypting data, threatening to leak it, and sometimes targeting associated partners or customers.
Next-gen ransomware, e.g. LockBit 4.0, BianLian etc, is rolling out advanced stealth, data theft, and automated lateral movement techniques, ie using an initial breach to jump across to other parts of your network or that of your partners and customers.

c. Supply‑chain & third‑party infiltration

Attacks starting via third-party software or vendors (e.g., SolarWinds-style) allow hackers to move laterally into networks and compromise multiple organisations simultaneously.

d. State‑sponsored & geopolitical cyber warfare

Nation-states (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea) are not just using espionage but now partnering with ransomware gangs to conduct financially and politically motivated operations.
Iranian state-aligned hackers are conducting sophisticated credential theft, MFA bypass, lateral infiltration, DDoS, website defacements, and disinformation across geographies.

e. Zero‑days and living‑off‑the‑land

Exploit kits now rapidly find zero-day vulnerabilities, especially in cloud environments, to bypass patching cycles.
Attackers increasingly use built-in legitimate software and system tools (living off the land) to evade detection.

f. Credential theft resurgence

Reported credential theft incidents rose 300% from 2023 to 2024, with 25% of malware focused on stealing login data.
These stolen credentials are a gateway for automated brute‑force, lateral movements, and supply‑chain infiltration.

g. Targeting of IoT, OT & mobile platforms

Millions of IoT and OT systems (from manufacturing to agriculture) remain insecure and are now common targets of AI‑driven automated attacks.
Mobile‑specific ransomware is emerging; threat actors are developing malware to extort victims directly via their mobile devices.

h. Rise of deception technology and defence adaptability

In response, organisations are deploying deception tech (honeypots, decoys) to detect lateral intrusions or zero-day exploits in real time.
Proactive threat intelligence, zero‑trust frameworks, AI‑driven detection, and adoption of post‑quantum cryptography are becoming critical defensive measures.

SMEs still have the mind-set that these attacks are just about the corporate sector and that they are safe because they are small and not worth targeting. Wrong. SMEs are considered low hanging fruit because they typically spend much less on their defences and tend not to have access to the right levels of support and advice. SMEs make up over 90% of the UK GDP, that’s huge and it makes them worth attacking if, for example, a nation state wanted to cripple the UK economy. AI automation makes this much easier to achieve and attackers at all levels can leverage AI to automate attacks against multiple SMEs at the same time using the same methods. If they attack 1000 SMEs at once, and get a 50% hit rate, that is good business for them.

We are seeing AI letting attackers scan thousands of targets at once, deploy malware bots and use brute force tools. They are automating phishing and social engineering allowing them to deepfake audio and video, using cloned voices to mimic senior personnel in companies. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security, AI makes this a relatively easy thing to do, doesn’t take high levels of skill, and is highly automated.

There is a real fear that traditional firewalls and spam filters used by most SMEs may fail to detect these advanced threats.

In summary AI-driven cyberattacks pose a significant and growing threat to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While larger corporations may have the resources to defend themselves, SMEs are often more vulnerable due to limited cybersecurity budgets, staffing, and expertise.

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

We talk a lot about data breaches, ransomware and other attacks and how we need to protect ourselves as well as we can, against such attacks. But as well and good as our defences are the old saying applies, ‘Aim for the best but prepare for the worst’. And that’s the subject today.

Disaster recovery and business continuity are very much connected but are different. The former is basically a plan for when things go sideways, like when a natural disaster hits, a cyberattack happens, or even if there’s a major tech failure. It’s all about making sure that businesses can bounce back and keep things running as smoothly as possible. Imagine your favourite coffee shop gets flooded. Disaster recovery is like their game plan for getting back on their feet: they might have backup equipment stored somewhere, a way to communicate with customers, and a strategy for cleaning up and reopening. In the tech world, it often involves regular backups of data, having alternate servers ready to go, and making sure everyone knows what to do in case of an emergency. The goal? To minimise downtime and get everything back to normal without too much hassle. It’s like having an insurance policy but for your operations, very important for keeping the lights on when the unexpected hits!

However, we need to understand that when it comes to the type of outages caused by supply chain cyber failures as we saw with CloudStrike, there isn’t much a customer can do to recover from that, without fixes from the suppliers. So, in this instance disaster recovery planning becomes a little difficult to say the least.

Business continuity on the other hand, is all about making sure that a company can keep running smoothly when it is deprived of their IT systems, in whole or in part. So, it’s about keeping business running whilst the disaster recovery plan kicks in and gets stuff back online. The idea is to have a plan in place that helps the business bounce back quickly. This includes figuring out which critical functions need to keep going, having some way of operating manually if necessary. Can you place an order, process an order, raise an invoice, pay a bill etc. It’s like having an emergency kit for your business, batteries included! Companies should create a business continuity plan (BCP) that outlines the steps they’ll take during a crisis. This way, they don’t just react on the fly; they can hit the ground running. It’s all about minimising downtime and keeping customers happy. In short, it’s like being prepared for a rainy day.

The first thing to decide is what the priorities are regarding business processes. What is essential, what is a nice to have and what you can live without in the short to medium term. Don’t leave it to managers and staff to guess, have it documented. This priority order is determined based on what is known as a business impact analysis (BIA). This determines the impact of an outage on the business and its customers. Don’t ever forget that your reputation is on the line, and you need to keep your customers serviced and happy. Each business process should have recovery time attached to it, ie how long you can do without it before it becomes truly disastrous.

It all sounds terribly complicated and therefore expensive, but in fact, it isn’t. All the information you need to work this out is already in your hands. You know your business best and you know what’s important and what isn’t quite so important. You just have probably never written it down. And that’s the crux of the matter.

Disaster recovery planning addresses the processes, technical requirements and infrastructure an organisation needs to implement to recover data and operations as required by the business in the event of a disaster. The planning process will involve identification of critical business processes, business impact analysis and thus determination of the overall requirements for a cost-effective plan.

Following the disaster recovery plan, business recovery planning is the process that organisations must use to assess appropriate timeframes for business resumption, also allowable data losses and risk tolerances for business disruptions. As stated earlier, it also needs a plan to carry on manually whilst the disaster recovery plan is implemented. Budgetary requirements for infrastructure and processes, to meet the disaster recovery plan, will also be determined by the business recovery planning process.

There are also 2 other key parts to this. Firstly, companies must ensure that their plans are tested, that everyone in the company is aware of them, where they can find them, and what their responsibilities are in this regard. Testing is critical to ensure that processes, systems and business restoration can meet the requirements laid down for them. Where the plans rely on third party service providers and/or indicate the need to support key customers, these should be involved in the testing process. This will give re-assurance that support will be received and/or given as expected.

And then we have key stakeholders. Who in your organisation is responsible for what, regarding disaster recovery and business continuity planning? Do they know their respective responsibilities, have they accepted this? Have you placed this in their job descriptions? Can they be held to this responsibility? Are they part of the planning and testing process? All seems a bit obvious when you say it, but you’ll probably not be surprised to know that it’s often totally overlooked.

Key Stakeholders	Roles and Responsibilities
CEO/Board of Directors	Aware of business continuity processes, inputs as required Approval of business continuity processes and integration with other technical functions – Note 1 Ownership of business continuity processes together with relevant business units – Note 1
Infrastructure (IT operations)	Input into business continuity processes. Consideration of any infrastructure changes which may impact security architecture. Provide inputs and coordination for systems’ resiliency testing and remediation. Provide costs/budgets for systems requirements
Business units	Creation of BIA and corresponding recovery requirements. Budgetary approval.

Note 1 – these two functions would be carried out by a CIO and/or and CISO in a larger organisation, but as most, even top end, SMBs are unlikely to have anyone in that role, then it must be owned by other board members.

Protective Monitoring for SMEs

Security operations is a complex subject and there is no doubt that it can be expensive and difficult, even for corporate organisations who generally have the resource, both financial and technical, to run a security operations centre (SOC), or at least can afford to outsource. I saw an RFP from a housing society for a SOC and I would be very interested to see if that contract gets let once the organisation gets the quotes, because I would be shocked if they could afford it.

Their RFP based its premise on the introduction of a Security Information and Event Management system (SIEM), which.in itself, might suggest that they don’t really know what they are asking for, or indeed, what they want. I base this on having designed, built and operated several such operations centres in the past.

Now before the SIEM vendors and resellers pile on, let’s be clear, SIEM systems have their place and are very useful in a SOC, although I would argue that they are most certainly not the end all and be all. My focus these days is on SMEs and for an SME there are several reasons why a SOC and an SIEM may be over the top and a cost too far.

Whilst an SIEM system is a valuable tool for cybersecurity, it comes with several drawbacks, including:

a. High Cost

Expensive Implementation – SIEM systems require significant upfront costs for software, hardware, and licensing.
Ongoing Costs – Maintenance, updates, and skilled personnel add to long-term expenses.

b. Complex Deployment and Management

Difficult Configuration – Setting up a SIEM system to work effectively requires extensive tuning and integration with various security tools.
Frequent Fine-Tuning – To avoid false positives and negatives, organisations must continuously refine alert rules and correlation policies.

c. High Volume of Alerts and False Positives

Alert Fatigue – SIEM systems generate numerous alerts, many of which are false positives, overwhelming security teams.
Difficult Prioritisation – It can be challenging to distinguish between critical threats and routine events without proper tuning.

d. Scalability Issues

Performance Bottlenecks – As an organisation grows, more logs and data sources can slow down the system.
Expensive Scaling – Scaling a SIEM to handle increasing data volumes often requires costly upgrades.

e. Need for Skilled Personnel

Expertise Required – SIEM systems need cybersecurity professionals to manage, analyse, and fine-tune them effectively.
Shortage of Talent – Finding skilled SIEM analysts can be challenging and expensive.

f. Storage and Compliance Challenges

Log Retention Costs – Storing large volumes of logs for compliance can be expensive.
Regulatory Complexity – Ensuring compliance with data protection laws (e.g., GDPR) requires careful log management.

h. Limited Threat Detection Without AI/Automation

Reactive Approach – Many traditional SIEMs rely on pre-set rules, making them less effective against new or sophisticated threats.
Lack of Automation – Without AI-driven analytics, manual investigation can be time-consuming.

Having debunked the usefulness of an SIEM system for an SME, let’s look at what an SME could do to mitigate their cyber risks.

A good cyber security strategy has always been founded upon strength in depth. Sound security architecture, good cyber awareness training, solid access control and identity management, and the ability to protectively monitor your estate for threats, vulnerabilities, and risks.

If you are not monitoring the effectiveness of the protections, you have spent good money on, how do you know it’s money well spent? Are those protections doing what you think they are. Monitoring is central to the identification and detection of threats to your business. It acts as your eyes and ears when detecting and recovering from security incidents and it enables you to ensure that devices are used in accordance with your organisational policies.

Many small to medium-sized businesses struggle with stretched resources, lean budgets, and a critical technical expertise gap. This fight against sophisticated cyber threats and outdated systems turns them into easy targets for cybercriminals. Exposed and at risk, these businesses stagger on the edge of significant disruption, financial loss, and reputational damage. Although on the surface an SIEM system might seem to be what an SME needs, it would not fit the profile of most SMEs, being too resource intensive and costly.

We have been researching the market, looking for a way of providing a security managed service that would serve an SME, at an affordable price. And we think we’ve found it – no, we are SURE we have found it. Simplicity is at its core, employing enterprise-grade technology to simplify and streamline the day-to-day work. Our unified platform and onboarding process, seamlessly detects, prevents, and responds to cyber threats in the most holistic, hassle-free, and cost-effective way.

We are offering a 14 day free trial and will cover:

Email security.
Cloud data.
Automated cyber awareness training.
External risk.
Endpoint security.
Secure browsing.
Phishing simulation.
And as an added bonus we can provide cyber insurance at a price which is directly linked to your risk score within or system. The lower your risk, the cheaper the insurance.

This system is deliberately aimed at 1-250 IT users in your business. Most SMEs come in around 10 to 15 IT users, but we’re not precious about it. It is a managed service, and we have our eyes on the glass and can mitigate your risks in concert with our clients providing advice, guidance and remediation as part of the service. All this for a mere £12 per user per month.

Check it out at the link below.

Cyber Security: why do I need protective monitoring?

Supply Chain Attacks

There have been a number of recent cyber-attacks that have used supply chains that many large businesses have. These businesses rely on smaller ones to provide key components that they require in their manufacturing or other processes. That supply chain is critical to their operations and therefore needs to be robust and secure. An attacker is constantly looking for weak links in cyber defences, that can be exploited for financial gain. They will look at an SME as such a weak link, expecting the SME to have a lower understanding of the threat, and lower expenditure on defence. They will be looking to piggyback on loopholes in the suppliers defences, to attack their main target.

A cyberattack on a supply chain can have far-reaching and severe consequences, not just for the targeted organisation, but also for its partners, customers, and even national security when considering the critical national infrastructure, nuclear, transport, energy, water etc. In short SMEs are a high‑risk conduit for supply chain attacks. Even minor breaches in small firms can ripple out, causing data loss, operational shutdowns, regulatory scrutiny, and reputational damage—highlighting why third‑party cybersecurity should be a top priority for all.

What real world examples can we give, particularly in the UK. Below are some notable UK supply chain cyber‑attacks that impacted SMEs and their customers, especially within third-party and vendor ecosystems

CTS breach — affecting dozens of UK law firms via SME IT provider

In 2023, CTS, a small IT supplier to multiple conveyancing and legal firms, was compromised. This granted attackers access to the networks of multiple SMEs in the legal sector, enabling potential data theft and operational disruption.

Metropolitan Police — hack via a small supplier

In 2023, hackers penetrated the Metropolitan Police by targeting a supplier responsible for police ID badges. Because the SME provider’s systems were breached, attacker access extended to personal staff data (names, ranks, photos, pay numbers), highlighting how SMEs serve as gateways for attacks on major institutions.

Synnovis ransomware — disrupting NHS clinical services

In June 2024, Synnovis, a pathology service provider for NHS hospitals, was hit by a Clop ransomware attack. Though Synnovis is not a front-line NHS body, as an essential subcontractor, the breach led to cancellations and testing disruptions in major London hospitals.

Blue Yonder — supply chain SaaS hack hits supermarkets & small logistics partners

In November 2024, Blue Yonder, a logistics SaaS provider, suffered a ransomware attack. Major supermarkets like Sainsbury’s and Morrisons were impacted—but crucially, many small UK warehouses and logistics SMEs that rely on the platform had to revert to manual operations, enduring days or weeks of chaos.

Systemic SMEs-vulnerability in UK supply chains

Research shows 77% of UK SMEs lack in-house cybersecurity, making them “soft targets” for attackers looking to pivot into larger clients. Meanwhile, 95% of larger UK companies reported experiencing negative impacts via vendor incidents.

Why SMEs are often the weak link in supply chains

SMEs often run with minimal cybersecurity budgets, lacking formal certifications.
Granted privileged access to larger clients. Many large organisations operate a just in time supply system, requiring their suppliers to be integrated into their systems.
When compromised, they become easy stepping-stones into bigger networks.

Summary Table of SME related supply chain attacks

Incident & Date	SME Role	Impact
CTS (2023)	IT supplier to law firms	Dozens of SMEs exposed
Met Police (2023)	Badge/ID card vendor	Police data compromised
Synnovis (June 2024)	Pathology provider	Hospital labs disrupted
Blue Yonder (Nov 2024)	Logistics SaaS provider	SME warehouses/businesses disrupted

What consequences can we expect from a supply chain attack?

Data Breach and Intellectual Property Theft
- Exposure of sensitive data: Customer data, supplier contracts, or internal communications.
- Theft of intellectual property: Designs, formulas, or proprietary technologies can be stolen and exploited.

Operational Disruption
- Production halts: If a manufacturer’s software is attacked, it may stop production.
- Delayed shipments: Logistic partners may be unable to fulfil deliveries.
- Inventory management issues: Automated systems may become unreliable or inaccessible.

Financial Loss

• Direct losses: Ransom payments, remediation costs, and legal fees.

• Indirect losses: Lost sales, customer churn, and regulatory fines.

• Stock impact: Public companies may see a drop in share price following disclosure.

Ripple Effects Across the Ecosystem
- Third-party impact: A breach in one company can compromise many others (CTS attack).
- Supplier distrust: Loss of trust among partners can damage relationships and business opportunities.
- Geopolitical risks: If critical infrastructure or government suppliers are hit, it can trigger national security concerns.

Legal and Regulatory Consequences

Violations of GDPR, PCI, etc.: Leading to hefty fines and legal action.
Breach notification requirements: Mandatory reporting can hurt brand image and cause public fallout.

Reputational Damage

Loss of customer trust: Perception of weak cybersecurity can cause long-term brand damage.
- Negative media coverage: Public awareness of the breach can linger for years.

Competitive Disadvantage

Loss of proprietary data: Competitors may gain an edge.
Resource diversion: Time and money spent on recovery rather than innovation or expansion.

Protecting against a supply chain attack

This will involve a mix of technical, procedural, and strategic measures. You need to understand that technology alone will not protect you. You must take a risk managed approach and understand that these attacks target vulnerabilities in third-party vendors, partners, or software dependencies. They will employ social engineering techniques and phishing in all its forms.

Know Your Suppliers and Vendors

If you are managing suppliers:

Inventory all third parties: Maintain an up-to-date list of all external vendors, software providers, cloud services, and contractors.
Assess risk levels: Identify which vendors have access to critical systems or sensitive data.
Ensure that you suppliers are aware of your security policies and that they have agreed to abide by them. Audit that.
Include security requirements in contracts (such as regular audits, breach notification timelines, etc.).
Ask for compliance evidence (ie, Cyber Essentials etc.).

If you are a supplier to a larger organisation:

Know and understand your customers security policies and undertake to abide by them. Don’t pay lip service, actually do it.
Make sure you understand your contractual obligations in this regard. Failure to do so could put you out of business.

Use Zero Trust Architecture
Apply least privilege access to vendors and third-party applications.
Isolate critical systems from less-trusted networks using segmentation.
Verify before trusting: Always authenticate and validate access requests, even from trusted sources.

Secure Your Software Supply Chain
Ensure your software comes from reputable sources and is regularly updated and patches applied.
Validate the integrity of software updates (e.g., use code signing and secure CI/CD pipelines).
Monitor for tampered or malicious packages.

Continuous Monitoring and Audit

Monitoring has long been considered too costly for most SMEs with systems such as SIEM not only being expensive but requiring constant analysis by a SOC analyst. However, there is now a system which is effective, managed and within most SME budgets. H2 can advise on this.
Log and audit changes to critical infrastructure or data access.
Use threat intelligence to stay ahead of known supply chain threats.

Patch Management and Updates

• Stay current with software and firmware updates.

• Use automated patch management tools where possible.

• Vet updates from vendors for authenticity and origin.

Incident Response Planning
- Create and test a supply chain-specific incident response plan.
- Ensure you can quickly revoke unauthorised or administrative access if needed.
- Conduct tabletop exercises that simulate supply chain attacks.

Train Your Staff
This is often the most effective quick win any organisation can make.
Educate employees about phishing, social engineering, and how supply chain attacks often begin.
Train procurement and legal teams to evaluate vendors with security in mind.

There is a lot too this subject and you might feel that you need advice and guidance.

DO YOU HAVE A HANDLE ON CYBER SECURITY?

Over the years I’ve had some very interesting conversations with several people from multiple different verticals, many fitting comfortably within the SME bracket, around Cyber Security. The conversations tend to take a very familiar turn. The cry of, ‘I’m covered, my IT support company has put in a firewall and some anti-virus. They tell me all is good’. Slightly depressing but hardly surprising.

So why surprising? A lot of IT Support Companies providing managed services do a very good job of supplying and implementing networks and providing hardware and software. The Cyber Security field is one where resources are scarce and expensive. Cyber Security professionals take a very different view than IT support companies and come at security from the risk managed view and recognise that it is not just about technology and in fact, it’s about people, process and then technology. More about this below.

As we travel around and visit clients or potential clients, it is common to find that they have the view that adequate security is provided by technology. They rely on their IT provider to provide the guidance they need which tends to involve firewalls, anti-malware software and perhaps a backup regime. All well and dandy. I use a quote from Bruce Schneier, Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, quite a bit, it goes like this:

‘If you think technology can solve your security problems, then you don’t understand the problems and you don’t understand the technology’.

A common misperception is that IT Security is the same as Cyber Security. That surprises a lot of people, so let’s explore it a bit. There is clearly a close symbiotic relationship between the two disciplines. I would argue, and I know this might meet with some disagreement, that IT security refers to traditional IT security methods which are technology based. Such as firewalls, anti-malware, end point protection etc. Whilst Cyber security is based very much on risk management which combines controls which are both non-technical and technical, following the principles of People, Process and Technology. A good cyber security professional will have a good handle on both approaches.

Even though cyber security and data protection have leapt to the top of many people’s agenda in recent years it is still common amongst many SMEs to believe that it is an IT problem, a technical problem rather than a business issue, even when recognising that the risk of a cyber intrusion or a data breach, impacts the business, the bottom line.

Since I first wrote about this, we now have the changing landscape of working practices. Many SMEs have adopted a more flexible approach to work and are utilising a more hybrid working pattern with some working from the office, some from home and other places. This does have financial advantages for an SME but brings with it a lot more security issues which many are either parking or outright ignoring.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a department of GCHQ Cheltenham, estimated, before the hybrid working pattern starting to bed in, that if you are an SME then you have around a 1 in 2 chance of experiencing a cyber security breach. For the small business this could result in costs of around £1400, for the medium business, considerably more. One has just been hit for around £30000, which I am sure you will agree, can be extremely damaging to the bottom line of businesses operating under tight margins. And of course, it’s not just financial penalties but the reputational damage should your customers data and assets be affected as well.

Within the SME world there is an almost total reliance on third party IT providers. Is that a good thing, after all that’s in the IT providers area of expertise and responsibility, isn’t it? And here comes the controversial bit. Third party IT providers, particularly in the SME space, are pretty much exclusively value added resellers or VARs, i.e., companies that sell other company’s products. Now I’ve no problem with that per se, but it comes with issues. Notable amongst them is that these companies will have skill sets that are very much limited to the products they sell. Ie they are proficient in the installation and configuration of those products and their clients are offered those products whether they are best in class, or more importantly, whether they are the most appropriate for the task. Before I get a social media pile on, I know that some of the bigger VARs do sell multiple vendors products, but they are in a minority.

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.

Here at H2 we offer a cyber maturity assessment that is designed specifically for SMEs. It is a comprehensive evaluation of an organisation’s cybersecurity capabilities and readiness to effectively mitigate and respond to cyber threats. It involves a detailed analysis of the organisation’s cybersecurity policies, procedures, technologies, and practices. The assessment aims to identify potential vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and areas for improvement in the organisation’s cybersecurity posture.

During the assessment, cybersecurity experts typically examine various aspects, such as:

Governance and Management: Reviewing the organisation’s cybersecurity policies, risk management frameworks, and leadership’s commitment to cybersecurity.

Security Awareness and Training: Evaluating the level of cybersecurity awareness among employees and the effectiveness of training programs.

Technical Controls: Assessing the implementation and effectiveness of security technologies, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, antivirus software, and encryption mechanisms.

Incident Response and Recovery: Analysing the organisation’s incident response plan, including procedures for detecting, reporting, and responding to cyber incidents.

Security Risk Management: Evaluating how the organisation identifies, assesses, and manages cybersecurity risks.

Third-Party Risk Management: Assessing the organisation’s approach to managing cybersecurity risks associated with third-party vendors and partners.

Compliance and Regulations: Verifying the organization’s compliance with relevant cybersecurity regulations and industry standards.

The results of the Cyber Maturity Assessment provide valuable insights to the organisation, enabling them to enhance their cybersecurity defences and establish a more robust and resilient security posture. It helps organisations prioritise their investments in cybersecurity, address vulnerabilities, and strengthen their overall cyber resilience and provides a road map to reach a standard agreed with the management, taking full account of that managements risk appetite.

WHAT DO SMES REALLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CYBER SECURITY

Maybe I should have titled this ‘What do SMEs WANT to know’ rather than need to know. That’s because all too often they want a very cut down version of what they need, because simply put, they don’t have the budget or expertise to get into too much detail and will often look for the easy way out. That’s becoming more and more of a problem given the concerted effort by cyber criminals to attack all sizes and types of business, here in the UK. I posted a bit about this earlier, you can read it here. Do SMEs really need a cyber strategy and if so, what exactly does that entail.

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.

The real trick here is in devising a strategy that works whilst staying within budget and having the resources to make it work. Not an easy path to tread but one that is very definitely a must.

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. I know, it’s a pain and you’ve got enough to do without increased paperwork. But this isn’t red tape, this is designed to keep your business protected and can save you a lot of money, time and trouble.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

So, to wind this up, everyone needs a strategy that is tailored to them and covers off their needs. In order to make sure that your cyber, or if you prefer, your information assets, are secured, you need to understand what they are and how vulnerable they are to attack. Only then can you start to put in place protections that are appropriate to you, and affordable, making sure that your budget is spent wisely. Don’t be put off by all the stuff above, some of it, or perhaps much of it, won’t apply to you, but some of it definitely will. Don’t be afraid to take advice from those who know what they are talking about.

Data Protection – A Timely Reminder

Data Protection is a somewhat dry subject that many companies, particularly SMEs, and many think they can get away from by simply paying a bit of lip service. The Data Protection Act 2018, or as it has become known, UK GDPR, is far from a toothless beast and can cause businesses to find themselves in all sorts of problems if they’re not careful.

As M&S has discovered and now, the Ministry of Justice. The cyber-attack was on the Legal Aid Agency and appears to have accessed a ‘significant amount’ of applicants’ personal data, to which the government admitted. ‘This data may have included contact details and addresses of applicants, their dates of birth, national ID numbers [national insurance], criminal history, employment status and financial data such as contribution amounts, debts and payments,’ the MoJ said.

…….. ‘it has become clear that to safeguard the service and its users, we needed to take radical action. That is why we’ve taken the decision to take the online service down. We have put in place the necessary contingency plans to ensure those most in need of legal support and advice can continue to access the help they need during this time’. Serious indeed.

Initial findings suggest that this is the result of systemic issues within the organisation which they have failed to correct, over many years.

What are the possible fall outs from this?

That very much depends on how the Information Commissioner views it. If this is seen as negligence, then the potential fine could be very significant indeed. If, on the other hand, it is deemed that the MOJ took all reasonable precautions that they could to protect the data, then that is a good mitigation which will reduce the potential punishment.

But that’s not the end of it. The reputational damage that this does is incalculable and the cost of fixing the issues will be high. Then there is the potential for legal action by anyone whose data was compromised, that could easily be the biggest issues that the MOJ faces.

Only time and a thorough investigation will determine the outcome.

Data Protection and the SME

My subscribers wi8ll know that my focus is the SME, large and small. So how does data protection impact them. Not so long ago a London estate agent was fined £80,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), after leaving the personal data of more than 18,000 customers exposed for almost two years.

The incident occurred when the estate agent passed the details from its own servers onto a partner company. An “Anonymous Authentication” function was not switched off, which meant there were no access restrictions to the data.

It’s surprising just how much PII estate agents hold. Just think about what they ask for when you’re buying a house. In this case the exposed details included bank statements, salary details, copies of passports, dates of birth and addresses of both tenants and landlords.

Then, as above, that might not be the end of it. Individuals can sue companies that release data into the wild. In fact, there are now law firms advertising no win no fee when representing these cases. Remember that data breaches almost always involve multiple people, sometimes hundreds if not thousands of records.

What size does a business need to be for the regulations to apply?

The regulations apply to all businesses large and small, although some exceptions exist for SMEs. Companies with fewer than 250 employees are not required to keep records of their processing activities unless it’s a regular activity, concerns sensitive information or the data could threaten an individuals’ rights. Just exposing PII can threaten an individual’s right to privacy.

Just about everyone processes personal data of some sort. Data that can identify a living individual. HR data will have bank account information, home addresses, NOK, phone numbers, maybe references from previous employers. The exposure of some or all of that could be judged as prejudicial to an individual’s rights. Some companies may have bigger problems, for example Solicitors, Estate Agents, Financial Advisors and Recruiters (the list is not exhaustive), which hold an abundance of personal data about their clients, much of which, under other legislation they are required to retain for up to 7 years.

Do I need written policies and processes?

Yes – What this means is that a significant number of policies and processes will need to be written and taken into use by the organisation. It is not unusual for many to visit the web and download templates to cover their requirements. However, whilst these templates in themselves maybe adequate when used by someone who knows what the requirement is, they may be less than effective in the hands of someone who is just looking for a quick tick in the box.

How is UK GDPR effected by cyber security?

The Act requires personal data to be secured by ‘default and design’. This means that cyber security requirements must be designed into your protections. This could mean at least another 6 or 7 policies and procedures.

How can I keep track of all my PII holdings and keep it secure?

When we are first approached by a prospective client and we begin our offer of a 30 day free trial to examine their requirements, one of the first things we find is that they don’t know what data they are holding, or where it all is. Oh, they have a general idea; it’s on the cloud server(s), it’s not on laptops or desktops, it’s just the stuff we need to process our clients’ requirements and yes, we’ve only got one copy. And then we install our software that first carries out a discovery exercise and we find that their laptops/desktops are holding lots of copies of the data that is on the cloud server(s). How does that happen? Over time, especially with many now employing the hybrid system of working, ie between the office and remote (home) locations, employees log on to the cloud, find they have a bit of shaky internet link and download the data they need, work on it and then upload it again, forgetting to delete it from their machine. Or they need to share it and attach it to an email and send it out, forgetting, or perhaps not realising, that the data is now stored, attached to an email, on their email server.

Then comes the issue with audit trails. If the ICO ever wanted to carry out an investigation, then having an audit trail of who created/copied/deleted/forwarded what to who, is essential. And let’s not forget the member of the public who is fully entitled to submit a Data Subject Access Request or DSAR, which demands that you reveal what data you are holding on that person. The law insists on it, and you can’t refuse it. I know of a financial firm that took nearly 3 weeks to satisfy a DSAR, taking an employee off billing, for that time.

Are there solutions suitable and affordable for SMEs?

We have a solution that meets the requirements and not only that, has a built in encryption system, all within the same monthly cost. It’ll cost you nothing to trial it and we’d be very surprised if once you’ve seen it and seen the ridiculously low monthly charge for the managed service, you don’t want to keep it.

Cyber Attacks on SMEs

We’ve posted a few pieces recently on why setting a realistic budget for cyber security is so important and we thought we’d follow that up with some real-life examples.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly being targeted by cybercriminals in 2025 and are facing a range of sophisticated threats that exploit limited resources and evolving technologies. Here’s a quick look at some of the most pressing cybersecurity incidents and trends that have affected SMEs so far this year:

Major Cybersecurity Incidents Impacting SMEs

Co-op Supermarket Chain Cyberattack (UK)

A “highly sophisticated” cyberattack disrupted Co-op’s IT systems, leading to customer data theft, contactless payment failures, and empty shelves in Scottish stores. The breach also affected other major retailers like Marks & Spencer and Harrods, with investigations pointing towards hacker groups such as Scattered Spider and Lapsus$.

Lockbit Ransomware Group Breach

The notorious ransomware gang Lockbit was itself hacked, resulting in leaked communications that revealed aggressive targeting of small businesses for extortion. This breach has temporarily disrupted Lockbits operations and exposed their tactics.

Berkeley Research Group (BRG) Data Breach

A cyberattack on BRG compromised sensitive data related to Catholic Church sex-abuse cases. The attacker used impersonation tactics via Microsoft Teams to deploy Chaos ransomware, leading to concerns over the exposure of victims’ identities.

Emerging Cyber Threat Trends for SMEs

AI-Powered Phishing and Deepfake Attacks

Cybercriminals are leveraging AI to craft convincing phishing emails and deepfake audio impersonations of executives, deceiving employees into authorising fraudulent transactions.

Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS)

The availability of RaaS platforms has lowered the barrier for launching ransomware attacks, making SMEs prime targets due to their valuable data and often limited security infrastructure.

Supply Chain Vulnerabilities

Attackers exploit weaknesses in third-party vendors to infiltrate SMEs’ systems, as seen in incidents involving compromised software packages on platforms like NPM.

Business Email Compromise (BEC)

Scammers use AI to mimic emails from corporate partners and managers, leading to fraudulent financial transactions. In Australia, BEC attacks have increased by 7% year-on-year, with SMEs being particularly vulnerable.

Proactive Measures for SMEs

To mitigate these threats, SMEs should consider the following actions:

Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Enhance account security by requiring multiple verification methods.

Regular Employee Training

Your staff are your first line of defence and need to be educated on recognising phishing attempts and social engineering tactics.

Secure Supply Chains

Vet third-party vendors for cybersecurity compliance and monitor for unusual activities. Are you in a supply chain for a major company? Are you facilitating a back door into their systems?

Invest in AI powered security tools

Utilise advanced solutions capable of detecting and responding to sophisticated threats. H2 has a couple of suggestion here that are affordable to SMEs.

Protective Monitoring

How do you know that your expensive solutions are protecting you? Do you know if you’ve suffered a stealth attack where the attacker has built a back door into your systems? Do you know if you’re hard-earned cash is being siphoned off? How vulnerable are you to an attack? A monitoring solution for SMEs is now available at an affordable price.

Data Loss Prevention

Are you sure you know exactly where all your data is? Are you sure that documents attached to emails aren’t still sitting on your email server? Do you know if other documents have been downloaded from your cloud storage whilst your staff work from home, and then uploaded but a copy is still sitting on their laptop? Data proliferation over time is almost a given. Can you encrypt your sensitive data so that even if it’s stolen, it’s useless to the thief? An affordable solution now exists.

Develop an Incident response and business continuity plan

No matter how well you protect yourself, you still need to prepare for potential breaches with a clear strategy to minimise impact and recover operations swiftly.

Cyber Security and The SME

What are we facing?

The world is in somewhat of a flux at the moment and SMEs are being battered from all sides it seems. First, we have the increase in the minimum wage, which impacts SMEs, generally, more than the corporate sized businesses, and then the increase in NI. What we didn’t need was tariffs, although how much of an impact that will have on SMEs won’t be known for some time yet. The EU is the world’s largest single market area and is the largest economy in the world, whether some people agree or not. Many may attribute that market size to large organisations and multi-national companies. While these are important contributors to the overall EU economy, the Small Medium Enterprise (SME) businesses form the backbone of that economy. This is also true of the UK where the DTI estimates that SMEs make up nearly 95% of the UKs GDP. A huge percentage and one that might surprise you.

According to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey (gov.uk), half of SMEs in the UK had experienced some form of cyber-attack in 2024, with email phishing, spear-phishing, and social engineering continue to trend as the most common and reliable means of illegally accessing a network.

NinjaOne produced are report which says that there were 7.78 million Cyber Attacks on UK Businesses in 2024. More than 400,000 cases of fraud and computer misuse were recorded. 50% of UK businesses experienced a cyber-attack.

The economic effects of the measures hitting SMEs discussed above, are already having an effect in that many SMEs are putting enhancing their protections against cyber-attacks, on the back burner. Those we speak to acknowledge the problem but are reluctant to spend money on anything that isn’t their core business. And we get that, we really do. After all we are an SME ourselves.

What are the potential impacts of a cyber-attack on your business?

A successful cyber-attack can wreak havoc on your business. Damaging your financial stability, customer trust, and reputation while inviting legal issues. The fallout includes:

Loss of corporate, financial, and personal data
Disruption to trading and potential fines from ICO
Repair costs for affected systems
Imagine building customer trust and an impeccable reputation over years, only to see it shatter in hours due to a cyber-attack.
The consequences, loss of customers and decreased sales and profits

The fear of legal repercussions is real too. Deploying inadequate security measures can lead to fines, regulatory sanctions and even legal action.

So, what can you do to better protect your business?

Despite today’s digital landscape, cyber security remains a non-negotiable aspect of business success. The threats are real, and SMEs are not immune. In fact, they’re often the most vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

Solutions need not be complicated or expensive, yet many SME owners still act reactively, not proactively, to cyber threats. The result? Huge costs to put things right and a massive hit on the company’s reputation and trust with their customers.

An underlying issue common to all SMEs is management awareness and commitment, which in turn drives budget, allocation of resources and effective implementation of the cybersecurity practices. Six categories of major challenges for SMEs have been identified:

Low cybersecurity awareness of the personnel.
Inadequate protection of critical and sensitive information.
Lack of budget.
Lack of ICT cybersecurity specialists.
Lack of suitable cybersecurity guidelines specific to SMEs.
Low management support.

Risk Management

Now I know that many will say that this is a technical matter and that we have a company under contract that looks after our IT infrastructure and therefore we can safely leave it to them. Wrong. Ask them some simple questions:

Have they fully identified your security assets? Security assets are not just hardware and software, in fact those are often the least of your worries. It’s the data, where it is and how it’s protected that is important.
Have they done a risk assessment on those assets.
Have they recommended or implemented controls to manage the risk down to your acceptable residual risk level. That is assuming they have spoken to you about what that acceptable risk is.

It’s very important that business owners grasp the difference between the technical requirements of their networks, and the business requirement.

You carry out risk management on a daily basis as you go about your business. Cyber security is no different and a simple risk management process can save you money by targeting your limited spend where it really needs to go, not where you may think it needs to go. Here is a link to a short video on that risk management process, which should help you see that it’s not onerous and need not be costly.

https://bit.ly/3FdZ6x0

Cyber Awareness Training

Some of you who are amongst my regular readers, will be quite aware of my mantra in regard to Cyber Awareness Training for staff and managers. A big misconception is that because cyber security can be an issue connected to technical measures, it lies squarely within the realm of IT. Wrong. Cyber security needs to be part of the culture of the organisation, second nature to all. Staff need a basic awareness and how their attitude and actions can have a damaging effect on the business. A report for ENISA, the EU security agency, suggests that 84% of Cyber attacks rely on some form of social engineering, and that the number of phishing attacks within the EU continues to grow. This is echoed in the UK.

Budgets

Budgets remain a problem. Many SMEs are low margin organisations, heavily reliant on cash flow, and therefore reluctant to spend on things that are not connected to their core business. But they must get used to asking themselves, ‘Is IT part of my core business?’, and ‘how long could I continue to operate my business if I lost my IT systems?’. Cyber security needs to be factored into budgets. Cyber security is an iterative process, it isn’t something that needs to be done once and then forgotten about. The criminals are constantly evolving, and defences must evolve with them.

Cyber Expertise

Cyber security expertise is something that isn’t cheap and easy to obtain. Many IT companies will talk about their expertise in this area but if you delve into that, it is generally focused on products, mainly firewalls and anti-malware. Cyber security expertise goes much much deeper than that and is as much procedural as it is technical. It starts with risk management, understanding the risks you face, which in turn is derived from threat and vulnerability analysis, matched to your cyber security assets. Those latter are not necessarily hardware and software but can be much wider ranging than that. Typically, the type of person who can legitimately call themselves experts in this field, can command salaries north of £80K. I doubt there are many SMEs prepared to pay that, or indeed, many of the smaller IT companies.

Security Standards

It can also be advantageous to follow a standard. By far the most comprehensive is the International Standard for Cyber Security, ISO27000 series. However, this might be seen as a little heavy for many SMEs, although at the higher end, they may want to follow it, rather than seek certification. At the lower end the UK Cyber Essentials scheme, mandated for anyone wishing to do business with the public sector, is very suitable, inexpensive, and obtainable.

Cloud Services

More and more SMEs are now moving to a cloud environment. Be it MS365, Amazon Web Services, Digital Ocean, amongst others. I usually recommend that SMEs take this approach as it can solve a lot of problems, particular with home working still very much in vogue. However, it is not the panacea that most think it is and still has some security issues, usually but not always at the user end, that need to be addressed.

About H2

Here at H2 we use our long experience of providing cyber security solutions to the large enterprises, to craft solutions for the SME community, having first identified the issues that the business faces. We take an approach that looks at things from the business point of view, managing risk and coming up with cost effective solutions which can be brought in in a phased way, for a subscription price. No large bills to damage that all important cash flow.

Remote or Office? The Debate Goes On

Barely a week goes by without the remote working v office-based argument surfaces somewhere, usually it must be said, at the corporate level, although many SME owners remain nervous of it, with others downright against it. My client base appears to be largely OK with a hybrid model of working and only one is 100% remote based, having given up their office.

The COVID pandemic was the catalyst for this with businesses of all sizes being forced to transform their operations to support remote work and by and large have done well, but not without many challenges, including video conferencing burn out, (along with wishing they’d taken out shares in Zoom!!), and a yearning to work together in person again, someday. We all realise that group working, face to face, is often necessary not just for efficiency, but because we are social animals. Experience has taught many businesses many things but are often still struggling with the potentially dire consequences in terms of cyber security and data protection.

I should perhaps mention that in the corporate IT world, where I worked for many years for major system integrators like HP, hot desking and remote working was introduced in the early 2000s and therefore this was no problem for us.

A distributed work environment i.e., personnel spread around various locations, office, home working, even the local coffee shop, creates critical challenges and new security threats as a result. The speed with which this has happened has meant that many simply did not take cyber security issues into account and if they did, thought, well, this is temporary, and it won’t matter in the long run. Well perhaps, but as many are now finding, there have been advantages to home working, not least a lowering of costs in terms of how much office space is needed to carry out the business function. Many are now looking at Hybrid working i.e., from home with a day or two in the office during the week. There are pros and cons to this outside of the scope of this article, and businesses will have to make their own judgements, but one thing is clear and that is that businesses need to understand the risks now inherent in distributed work and need to get better at cyber security and data protection, in those environments.

Employees when remote working, are at much greater risk than those in offices. Since home connections are less secure, cybercriminals have an easier entry into the company network. Furthermore, the explosion of various online tools, solutions, and services for collaboration and productivity tend to have the bare minimum of security default setting, and updates from third-party vendors can change security preferences and be easily overlooked.

Phishing becomes an even greater threat to home workers simply because, in an office environment, they have access to colleagues and managers, who they can approach for advice and guidance. This is much harder to replicate with remote workers, especially those who may not be particularly tech savvy and who may not wish to become ‘burdensome’ to their co-workers.

Ransomware also enjoys an advantage in the remote working model. If their connection to the company is blocked, it is more difficult for workers to get assistance from the right experts and authorities. And since trust levels are lower when working from home, some workers will be concerned that they have “done something wrong” and so may be more reluctant to seek help. While this risk can be addressed by increased training, as well as messaging that vigilance and involving IT support will be rewarded, it can still be an uphill battle.

In a study carried out by Entrust it was clear that many organisations are grasping the concept of cyber awareness training, although there are still too few amongst SMEs that take this on board. Of those who responded to Entrust:

94% said employee training has a positive impact on data security.

95% agreed that they trust remote employees to comply with data security best practices and training.

93% said they felt positive about the impact data security training had on them.

Of course, this was a sampling and only 61% of employees said that their company offered training.

Whatever system of hybrid you are proposing to use, or are using, it is clear that you will need to go beyond baseline security measures. In this case we are almost certainly dealing with baseline protections such as multi-factor authentication, known as MFA or sometimes 2FA, and virtual private networks (VPNs). Both have their place and will be needed.

The Entrust report cites a contradiction here, and it’s one I have also noted. Many company owners/directors say they believe company data is protected with these baseline solutions, yet they also say that home internet connections, leaked sensitive company information and cyber-attacks are their top concerns.

If organisations are going to use hybrid work models successfully over the long term, then they will need to further invest in their security strategy. MFA and VPNs, while important, should be seen as part of a larger strategy for data security in a hybrid work model. Throughout and beyond the pandemic, bad actors have exploited security deficiencies of remote environments such as insecure home tech hardware, poor password hygiene and employee use of unapproved tools.

If you are going to adopt this new normal, or already have adopted it, then the process must start with understanding your risk posture which will inform you of what measures you need to take to secure your data. Below is a link to a short video explaining cyber risk management, at least at a high level.

https://bit.ly/3FdZ6x0

Once you have a clear understanding of what your risks are, then you might like to consider a zero-trust approach to data security.

With employees having the ability to work anywhere in a hybrid environment, the office perimeter is no longer relevant to digital security. Zero Trust frameworks are designed to apply the concept of least privileged access to people, systems and devices, giving these entities only the access they need to fulfil their role and nothing more. Additionally, a Zero Trust approach continually monitors user and device behaviour to identify suspicious patterns and take preventive action, including a step-up authentication challenge.

You may need to consider other protections such as:

Passwordless single sign on involving Privileged Access Management (PAM) to facilitate a Zero Trust approach.

Data Loss Prevention. Whilst a VPN will protect your data in transit, file level encryption ensures that it is protected at rest, at both ends of the tunnel, so that if it does get stolen or otherwise compromised, the impact is severely lessened. There is more information in the short video below.

https://bit.ly/4berDPa

Protective Monitoring. This has long been considered too expensive for an SME. Well, no longer, there is now a system which is effective and affordable and is explained in the video below.

https://bit.ly/3Qy4u0x

If you feel a no obligation chat about this would be helpful, give us a call.

Data Breaches and their consequences