Risk Analysis and Security Strategy Archives - Page 3 of 10

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 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.

Cyber Security Architecture

In many of my discussion with small to medium business owner on the subject of Cyber Security and how it may impact them, one of the things that does stand out, amongst quite a few, is the lack of understanding about security architecture. So, I thought it was worth discussing it further.

What is security architecture? Well, in a nutshell it’s the technical elements of security that are used to mitigate cyber risks. Many of you may have read or heard of me talking about the differences between IT Security ie, the technical elements, and Cyber Security ie, the risk managed elements, a more holistic approach if you like. And of course, the two remain separate whilst maintaining a symbiotic relationship in that one begets the other, or it should. Security architecture, in order to be fully effective, has to be based on risk management ie, if you haven’t identified the risks, how can be sure that whatever technology you’ve been persuaded to buy, is necessary and effective?

All SMEs will have things like a firewall and anti-virus, possibly going a step further and having some form of end point protection against most malware attacks. But how did they arrive at the products they have purchased and taken into use. Well generally that is based solely on the recommendation of whatever IT support company they’ve bought it from. Usually, the local IT company that they use to supply their hardware and software and who often provide technical support as well.

I’m not against building a relationship with a local IT provider, in fact it’s a very good idea, but all SMEs have to realise that those companies are what is known as Value Added Resellers or VARs. What that means is that they have a relationship with hardware and software vendors and that their staff are trained in the installation, configuration and sometimes maintenance, of those vendors hardware and software. Is that a problem? That depends very much on how the requirement for a solution was arrived at. Was it based on identifying the risk through some form of risk assessment process, or was it arrived at because that’s the products they sell and are comfortable with? All too often it’s the latter.

I’ve also talked elsewhere about the other non-technical controls that might be required, such as policies and process, another subject but one which is vitally important and can often be better placed to protect a company than expensive tech.

How many SME owners have had the reasoning behind the purchase of technical solutions explained to them? And to be fair to the VAR, how many SME owners have asked for it to be explained to them? It is typical, when I visit SMEs, to find that they have what is known as a flat network. That means that they have one gateway into the network, introducing a single point of failure, and no segmentation within the network. Lack of segmentation means that once an intruder is in, and often the gateway firewall is a dual firewall/router entry level device, not the best, then there are no other controls to stop the intruder from attacking end points, such as for instance, your finance department/person, or perhaps just taking whatever data they want in a stealth attack, so that you don’t even know it’s been compromised.

Of course, these days that is often exacerbated by the increasingly popular remote working. I know not every company has embraced this, but many have and have not through the security implications.

Segmentation, remote access and remote security solutions need not be overly expensive to implement and may save a lot of money in the long run. But the main point is that unless you have carried out a risk assessment, then you don’t actually know whether you need a particular solution or not. Neither do you know whether your firewall and/or router is up to scratch, whether your anti-malware system is doing what you think it’s doing, whether your policies and processes are adequate for the task and whether your staff understand the issues and dangers.

None of these things need be complicated and difficult but they are essential to adequately protect you against and increasingly sophisticated and ever evolving cybercriminal community.

Do You Have a Handle on Your Cyber Maturity Stance?

Over the years I’ve had some very interesting conversations with several people from multiple different verticals, but all fitting comfortably within the SME bracket, around Cyber Security. The conversations often 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 not terribly surprising.

Even though cyber security and data loss prevention 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. So, is it an IT issue or a business issue?

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a department of GCHQ Cheltenham, estimates that if you are an SME then you have around a 1 in 2 chance of experiencing a cyber security incident of some sort. For the small business this could result in costs they could well do without, and I know of one business that has 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.

As we travel around and visits 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. A quote from Bruce Schneier, Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, 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’.

It is a common misconception 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.

Within the SME world this tends to mean that there is a heavy reliance on third party IT providers. Is that a good thing? After all that’s in their 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 at 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, we 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 organisation’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 strengthens 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.

H2 is currently offering a free 1-hour consultation, and if you wish, a 10% discount for a CMA.

Cyber Security is a Business Issue

This is a subject I return to quite often and it’s all about how cyber security is viewed by many SMEs, and I’ll explore why that view appears to be paramount. I am pretty much of the view that the attitude I’m about to expand on, is as much the fault of the cyber security industry, as anything else.

We tend to flood potential clients with adverts and articles, mainly focused on technology. Many of this comes from sales, rather than from the seasoned cyber security experts, that you might wish it did.

Let me give you a couple of quotes. The first comes from a renowned Harvard scientist and cyber security specialist. He says, ‘If you think technology can solve your security problems, then you don’t understand the problems and you don’t understand the technology’.’ The second comes from Stephane Nappo, Vice President and Global Chief Information Security Officer for Groupe SEB, ‘It takes 20 years to build a reputation and a few minutes of cyber-incident to ruin it.’

Boil that down and they are saying that this is not an IT issue, it’s a business issue. That’s not discounting technology’s role but without integrating it with PEOPLE and PROCESS, we’re only curing half the ailment. When advising a company’s leaders, we must not only identify the threats but also gauge vulnerability to these threats and ascertain the risk to the business. Only then can we craft a solution that harmoniously unites People, Process, and Technology.

Perhaps because there is a considerable amount of what we call FUD, fear, uncertainty and doubt, doing the rounds constantly, it concentrates people on thinking about specifics, instead of looking at the bigger picture. Whilst there is no doubt that phishing, ransomware, and other scams have certainly concentrated the mind somewhat, and these attacks are most definitely not confined to the large enterprise businesses, but have been attacking, with a lot of success, the small to medium business market, this causes vendors to try and exploit the issues around that and push their technology solutions and of course, SMEs rarely, if ever, have the expertise to judge whether or not a particular product will actually give them the protection they need. We now must add into the mix AI and its capacity for increasing cyber-attacks at all levels, making the production of code, so much easier and making it available to those perhaps less skilled than heretofore.

As we travel around and visits 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 give the guidance they need which tends to involve firewalls, anti-malware software and perhaps a backup regime. All well and dandy. Let’s just remind ourselves of the quote from Bruce Schneier:

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

So, what does he mean? As he’s not here to ask I suggest what he’s saying is that essentially the technology available can be an essential part of your protection but it has to be targeted in the right way, which not only means you have the right piece of kit doing the right thing, but that you are targeting your IT spend to support your business goals and give a maximum return on investment (ROI). It should also be married to good policies and processes that are enforceable and auditable and fully understood by your work force. To do this you have to understand exactly what your risks, vulnerabilities and threats are to ensure that your solution to those risks, vulnerabilities, and threats, is targeted for maximum effect and ROI and that the technology is supporting the policies and processes, all of which is underpinned with good security awareness training.

It’s also necessary to have some form of measuring the effectiveness of your solutions through a protective monitoring solution. Such solutions for SMEs have long been considered too expensive to even consider, even though it provides a set of cybersecurity practices and measures aimed at safeguarding an SMEs digital assets and sensitive information.

But first and foremost, you need to identify the risks that you face. How can you identify that risk and then mitigate it? Taking risks is a part of business. You assess risk every day when doing business. Do you want to do this deal? What happens if it goes not as expected? Do I want to take this person on? Etc etc etc. Whether you formally undertake a risk assessment or whether you assess that risk informally, you are working out what is appropriate to a level that is consistent with the risk that your organisation is prepared to take. Failure to do that will almost certainly be damaging to your business, perhaps fatally so.

Within SMEs the difference between assessing day to day business risk and assessing risk to information assets, is one of understanding. What is an information asset? Note the word ‘information’ rather than IT. It is the information contained within the IT system that is the important asset, not the piece of hardware it is sitting on. You understand your business risk, after all it is your business, but do you understand information risk? Do you have a clear idea of what information assets you have and where they are? Before you answer that think it through. Do you really know where all the data is? OK, you know that you have a server or servers and that somewhere in those servers there is a bunch of data which runs your business. How much of that data has been saved onto staff workstations when they needed it to carry out some work? How much has been copied off somewhere else for what was probably a very good reason at one point? How well is your firewall functioning? Can malware work its way onto the network because the firewall does not have Universal Threat Management installed and can therefore be probing the servers and workstations. I could go on.

The first thing to understand is that these risks are owned by the board, and if you don’t have a formal board, then the management team. That needs to be understood fully by those at the top. That team needs to understand what level of risk is acceptable and agree what risks you are prepared to tolerate to achieve your business aims. You need to ensure that supporting policies are produced, implemented, understood by employees, and regularly reviewed and updated. At H2 we tend to produce an information security and data protection handbook which can run into many pages. Producing these policies is not as easy as it sounds.

You may also wish to look at some recognised standards by which you can regulate your risk management. One such is the international standard for information security, ISO 27000 series but perhaps the most appropriate for SMEs is the Cyber Essentials Scheme which will help you demonstrate an appropriate level of information security and risk management within your company.

Once you have a risk management framework in place, owned from the top, then you can identify your information assets and assess the risk to your business should those assets be compromised in some way. Then and only then can you adequately assess what processes and technologies you need to mitigate the risks identified for each asset thus targeting your spend for maximum effectiveness.

Sadly, that’s not the end. User education is probably the most important element of all for an SME. Ensuring that your staff are aware of the policies and why they exist. Protect yourself against scams which sadly, form the biggest danger to SMEs rather than hacks. Scams can be very low tech or high tech using malware, but however they come in, your staff need to be aware of them.

The Effects of Downtime on Your Business Can Be Devastating

I’ve talked in the past about what SMEs really care about when it comes to cyber security. Do they really care about the technicalities of an attack or scam? Do they really care about the technical aspects of a piece of protective software or hardware? My argument is that they neither need nor want to know how this stuff works. What they do want to know can be summed up pretty easily.

How vulnerable are they to an attack and/or scam?
What would be the effects if that attack or scam succeeded?
What can they do about it, and how much will it cost them?

I wrote mostly about points a and c in a blog earlier in the year, https://hah2.co.uk/what-do-sme-owners-and-directors-want-from-cyber-security/, and I’ve included the link if you want to read it. This time I’m concentrating on point b and the effects of the downtime that it creates.

Downtime following a cyberattack can have serious consequences for businesses, and individuals. We can categorise these into several key areas:

Financial Costs

Lost Revenue: For e-commerce platforms, financial institutions, or other time-sensitive industries, downtime directly results in revenue losses. All businesses will suffer some degree of revenue loss if they can’t carry out their business because their access to suppliers, customers and operations are seriously curtailed.
Operational Costs: Companies may need to pay overtime to staff to keep the business going manually without access to IT, hire external cybersecurity experts, or invest in replacement hardware or software.
Regulatory Fines: Non-compliance with regulations like GDPR or industry focused standards, due to downtime or data breaches can lead to significant fines.

Damage to Reputation

Loss of Customer Trust: Downtime can erode confidence, especially if sensitive customer data is exposed or if services are unavailable for extended periods.
Brand Damage: Affected organisations may face negative publicity, making it harder to attract and retain customers or partners.

Operational Disruption

Service Outages: Critical systems might be offline, affecting production lines, supply chains, or essential services.
- Loss of Productivity: Employees unable to access IT systems are effectively idle, causing delays in work and project completion.

Note: Points d and c were what essentially led to the collapse of Knights of Old. When they were hit with a ransomware attack which took out their IT systems, they were unable to fulfil time sensitive orders which led to the cancellation of those orders, damaging their brand and seriously impacting customer trust. They never recovered and are now out of business.

Data Loss

Corruption or Deletion: Cyberattacks like ransomware can encrypt, leak or destroy critical data, which may take days or weeks to recover, even with backups.
Intellectual Property Theft: If attackers steal proprietary information, it can be sold to competitors or leaked online.

Security Gap

Exploitation of Vulnerabilities: Downtime often exposes weak points in an organisation’s infrastructure, which may need to be patched or rebuilt.
Increased Risk of Future Attacks: Downtime may signal to attackers that the organisation is a viable target.

Legal and Regulatory Implications

Breach of Contract: Failure to meet service-level agreements (SLAs) due to downtime can result in legal action from customers or partners.
Insurance Implications: Cyber insurance claims may be denied if the company failed to follow adequate preventative measures.

Psychological and Social Impact

Employee Stress: Staff may feel pressured to resolve issues quickly, leading to burnout.
Customer Frustration: Extended downtime can alienate loyal customers, particularly in industries where continuity is critical, such as healthcare or finance.

Broader Economic and Societal Impacts

Supply Chain Disruption: Downtime in one organisation can ripple through its partners, affecting entire supply chains.
- Critical Infrastructure Risks: Attacks on essential services like utilities or healthcare systems can have life-threatening consequences.

I have blogged many times about the mitigation strategies you can take, that don’t need to break the bank, but the bottom line, proactive measures can significantly reduce the impact of cyberattacks and the associated downtime. Understand your vulnerabilities and threats, base your spend on protecting against those threats, starting with the most serious, and then working down. Don’t try and get to 100% security, it doesn’t exist, so understand what risks you find acceptable and what risks you don’t.

A Guide to Cyber Security for SMEs

There’s a continual stream of blogs and posts about cyber security and the sometimes catastrophic effects of getting it wrong, but there is very little that tells SMEs what they should be doing, and it’s generally left to local IT management companies and VARs (Value Added Resellers – i.e. those who sell various products and add value by configuring and managing them). I’m not knocking those companies; they have a very valid business model. But what they aren’t are cyber security professionals and generally their security expertise is focused on the products that they sell. For instance, they will have good skills in installing and configuring security products such as anti-virus and firewalls but there is generally no knowledge of cyber risk management and assessment, thereby ensuring that you have the right defences in the right place, providing the best value for your limited spend, and ignoring the non-technical solutions that are often a better bet than a piece of technology.

SMEs generally have very little budget to allocate to this and that means that what budget they have needs to be effectively targeted at what is important. They need to be aiming for a situation whereby when a potential attacker targets them, they appear to be a more difficult nut to crack than other organisations in their space and their size. Attackers want things to be easy, not difficult, and they will often move on if things get difficult. A criminal is in the game of getting easy money.

Let’s take a look at what cyber security is all about, and more importantly, why you need it? Let’s tackle the first question – what is cyber security? One definition is as follows:

Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting computer systems, networks, software, and data from digital attacks, unauthorised access, damage, or theft. It involves a range of technologies, processes, and practices designed to:

Prevent cyberattacks
Detect breaches or suspicious activity
Respond to security incidents
Recover from damage or loss caused by attacks

The problem is of course that each bullet point there covers a multitude of issues that need to be addressed. The question is understanding what those issues are, how they affect you and what is the priority i.e. what are the most important things that you need to protect, and what comes next, all managed within whatever budget you can allocate to it. It’s not easy and you might feel that you don’t need to do everything but that you need to cover off the most important issues. That means of course that you need to know what those issues are.

The first thing you need to do is to identify your cyber assets. Assets are not confined to hardware and software, far from it. A cybersecurity asset is anything of value that requires protection in a digital context. Identifying and classifying these assets is a foundational step in building a strong cybersecurity posture. Assets will change from company to company, depending upon how you’re organised and what business you are in, but generally:

Hardware Assets

Servers, routers, laptops, mobile devices, firewalls
Why it matters: Physical devices are entry points for attackers and must be secured.

Software Assets

Operating systems, applications, databases etc
Why it matters: Vulnerabilities in software can be exploited to gain unauthorised access.

Data Assets

Customer records, financial data, intellectual property, source code
Why it matters: Data breaches can lead to regulatory fines, reputational damage, and financial loss.

Network Assets

VPNs, switches, IP addresses, subnets
Why it matters: Networks facilitate communication and, if not protected, can be avenues for lateral movement by attackers.

People Assets

Employees, contractors, system administrators
Why it matters: Human error is a leading cause of breaches, so training and access control are crucial.

Cloud and Virtual Assets

Virtual machines, containers, cloud storage (e.g., AWS S3, Azure Blob Storage)
Why it matters: Cloud environments introduce new attack surfaces that must be monitored and managed.

An example could be a customer database, maybe on the cloud or via an app, or even an onsite server. You class this as high value because it contains personally identifiable information (PII) and of course all your interactions with those customers and the value they have to you. Lose that and you might be out of business. You decide to encrypt it and use multi factor authentication and have daily backups, not kept online.

Identifying the assets is the first step in defining what protections you need. You then have to categorise those assets and decide how important they are to the business before you can decide what levels of protection they need.

Having categorised your assets, you then need to assign a risk score to them. Now, this can be done formally via a formal risk assessment, but I accept that many SMEs can’t afford to have that done, and, given the size of the company and the amount/types of information held, it might be relatively easy, when compared to a corporate body, to assign a risk score to each asset.

The next step then is to apply a risk score to the assets in accordance with how you have assessed them, this in turn informs you of the importance of each asset and how you will need to protect them. In other words, you are now targeting your spend to where you know it will be most effective.

We then need to identify the vulnerabilities and the threats and that is where most organisations require help.

Here at H2 we use our considerable experience in doing this for corporate level organisations, and translating that into doable chunks for SMEs, carving up what is needed into priorities and working with clients to decide what those priorities are. We do this keeping in mind the principle of People, Process and then Technology, keeping in mind that many protections, or controls as we term them, are actually not technical but are procedural, based on sound policy and process, and therefore costing very little.

We take a phased approach:

The first phase works with the client to decide where they are now, on a scale which we take from the Carnegie Melon cyber maturity model. Most SMEs come out at around 1 to 2 on the scale and aim to get to 3 to 3.5. The scale goes up to 5 but, as you can see from the phased approach above, this tends to be not necessary for an SME and is often too expensive anyway.

Once we know our starting point, we identify quick wins to tighten up security. As a rule, that will include things like cyber awareness training for staff, ensuring that all access is controlled using MFA of some sort and making sure that Admin rights are strictly controlled. Depending on the company and what it does, it might mean instituting some form of identity management.

As part of the Quick win phase, we also look at policies and processes. Is there a process for allocating and removing rights? Is there a policy and process about on and off boarding staff etc. Other policies we might need to look at include:

Top-level policy issued by the board
Starters and Leavers Policy
Access Control Policy
Magnetic Media Policy
Mobile Working Policy
Password Policy
Email Policy
Acceptable Use Policy
Data Protection

That done we move on to Phase 2 which is where we might recommend encryption both at rest and in transit, for critical data assets. We will discuss back up procedures and processes which will ensure that backups are securely stored and that restoring from backups is practiced and works. We will discuss incident handling procedures and business continuity planning. Finally, we will discuss monitoring and audit, two things that until quite recently tended to be out of the price range of SMEs. However, there are now systems and services on the market which are affordable.

This all seems a bit daunting, but if taken in chunks and phased over perhaps several budgetary periods it is doable, and you really need to consider it.

Ransomware – The Threat That Keeps On Giving

I know I’ve banged on about this quite a bit recently, but I make no apologies for it. It has sprung to the front again following the Panorama programme on Monday night which highlighted the often catastrophic effects of ransomware on companies, and had interviews with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the National Crime Agency (NCA), with an NCA rep saying that 2025 is shaping up to be the worst year ever for ransomware and the CEO of NSCS calling on businesses to face up to the issue and sort out their cyber defences.

The programme highlighted that Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) now enables 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, using an initial breach to jump across to other parts of your network or that of your partners and customers.

You’ll have to forgive me for being a bit smug as the programme highlighted issues that I’ve been talking about for a long time now. Firstly, it’s not just the corporates that are targets for this. SMEs are also very much in the firing line. The programme highlighted an example I’ve quoted before. Knight of Old (part of the KNP Logistics Group) suffered consequences that they just couldn’t recover from.

In June 2023, the Akira ransomware gang infiltrated the company via stolen credentials and encrypted critical systems, including freight-tracking, payments, and internal servers, displaying this chilling message:

“If you’re reading this, it means the internal infrastructure of your company is fully or partially dead.”

The group also threatened to release over 10,000 confidential documents (payroll, invoices, financial files) as a form of double extortion. Despite having cyber insurance and backups, they couldn’t fully restore financial systems, and some backups were also destroyed. Insurers covered only the initial cleanup (~£250k) and $1M policy, but this fell far short of covering the estimated $2.7–$5.3 million ransom or the broader economic damage. Operational disruption prevented them from producing reports and financial statements, essential for securing bank funding. A sale fell through, as buyers wanted director guarantees they couldn’t offer.

The company entered administration in September 2023 and ceased operations. Around 730 out of 900 employees lost their jobs, including many long-serving drivers and staff who were owed unpaid wages. Local impact was severe: furloughed staff lost homes, cars, and some experienced severe personal hardship.

It appears that the attack was perpetrated via a weak password and the absence of multi-factor authentication (MFA), with the gang using a brute force method to crack the password. It underscores the fact that even companies with cyber insurance and accredited systems are vulnerable.

Obviously, we’re not party to the full facts but the company’s directors have been quite candid in interview, and we have to wonder if something as simple as good cyber awareness training and the introduction of MFA could have stopped this attack in its tracks. There are other factors to consider though. The backups seemed to have failed, with some of them being destroyed by the attack, suggesting that these backups were on the same network as the main system.

Clearly what is needed is defence in depth, based on the tried and tested method of risk management. The idea of defence in depth stems from military defences, where there are multiple layers to a defensive system. In cyber security we talk about People, Process and then Technology. I’ll once again trot out the quote from Bruce Schneier, ‘If you think technology will solve your cyber security problem, you don’t understand the problem and you don’t understand the technology’. This aligns very well with the opinion of both NCSC and NCA that the majority of these attacks are more in line with scams than with technical hacking.

Rather than bore you with the components of risk management in cyber, I’ll just point you towards a short video we produced on the subject.

Risk Management – a short video

We produced another video which highlights social engineering. That is the method by which much of these attacks are undertaken which are not particularly technical in nature. It’s the People part of the risk management process and is arguably the quickest and cheapest win any company can take. It’s a continual source of wonder amongst cyber security professionals that a large focus remains on technology whilst ignoring this vital element. Our short video tries to hit the highlights but in this changing landscape, we haven’t hit them all.

Social Engineering – A Short Video

The takeaway from this should be that no one is safe or immune from a ransomware attack, particularly ransomware as a service. This latter means that the attacker doesn’t need to be technically proficient, just determined. It enables attackers to target multiple companies at once. If they, for instance, attack 1000 companies at the same time, using the same service, and ask for moderate amounts of ransom, they only need to hit around a 40-50% success rate to make a decent profit. Add in AI which makes this so much easier to do, and you’ve got an idea of how much of a business this is for criminal and nation state sponsored gangs.

Do CISOs have a role in the Small to Medium Enterprise?

A Chief Information Security Officer or CISO, is a post you almost never find in an SME, even those at the top end of that sector. This has contributed to the growth of what is known as fractional appointments i.e. appointments that are not full time with the incumbents often taking roles in more than one organisation, thus the term Fractional.

Anyone taking any role in an SME management team will need to be pragmatic, practical and bring cost effectiveness to their discipline. The CISO role is no different and is all about managing risk, enabling the business and ensuring trust in a very cost sensitive environment.

The CISO can play a crucial role in an SME by ensuring that the organisation’s information and data assets are secure. While the CISO role in a large corporation may be more siloed or focused on strategy, in an SME the CISO often wears multiple hats, balancing strategy, operations, and hands-on technical work.

Challenges Unique to SMEs

I’ve often talked about the challenges that SMEs face, focusing as I do on cyber security. Let’s just have a quick recap looking at where the CISO fits in with these unique challenges.

Limited budget and staff: This is the main reason why SMEs will not employ a full time CISO, they simply can’t afford it. The other being that an SME probably doesn’t require a full-time resource anyway. Because of this lack of resource the CISO may also act as a hands-on security engineer or IT lead, perhaps liaising with a contracted IT outsourcer.
Lack of security culture: Many SMEs don’t prioritise security until after a breach. The CISO will be able to raise awareness and provide advice and guidance before the fact.
Rapid growth and change: Scaling securely is a key challenge as SMEs expand and there are often gaps left because of overlooking the need to embed security at the design stage. The CISO can plug that gap.

Let’s take a look at the potential elements of a job description for the role of a CISO, or a Fractional CISO, in an SME. Of course, these may not fit everyone and it’s more of a menu for SMEs to choose from:

Developing and Leading the Cybersecurity Strategy
Define the overall information security roadmap aligned with the SME’s business goals.
Balance security with business agility, in other words making sure security does not get in the way of business and keeping in mind budget constraints typical in SMEs.
Ensure the strategy addresses risk management, compliance, and data protection.

Risk Management and Assessment
Identify and assess cyber risks relevant to the SME (e.g., phishing, ransomware, insider threats).
Conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration tests.
Prioritise risks based on business impact and likelihood.

Policy and Compliance Management
Develop and enforce security policies, standards, and procedures.
Ensure compliance with relevant regulations (e.g., GDPR, PCI-DSS etc depending on industry).
Prepare for audits and provide documentation to demonstrate compliance.

Security Awareness and Training
Conduct regular security awareness training for employees.
Create a culture of security by promoting best practices (e.g., strong passwords, phishing awareness).

Incident Response and Business Continuity
Develop and maintain an incident response plan.
Lead the response to security breaches and minimise damage.
Ensure business continuity and disaster recovery plans are in place and tested.

Technology Oversight and Vendor Management
Evaluate and implement cybersecurity tools (e.g., firewalls, endpoint protection etc).
Manage relationships with third-party vendors, especially cloud providers and MSSPs.
Ensure that vendors comply with the SME’s security requirements.
Ensure the SME itself is not in conflict with any security requirements of larger organisations if it is in that organisations supply chain.

Board and Executive Communication
Translate technical risks into business language for senior management.
Report regularly on security posture, incidents, and needs.
Advocate for security budget and resources in line with organisational risk appetite.

I hope that gives a feel as to why an SME might want to consider a Fractional CISO or Board Advisor. Cyber-attacks are becoming more sophisticated, faster and harder to repel. It is no longer just the corporates who are in the firing line. Modern, often AI driven attacks have put everyone in the sights of the modern cyber-criminal and even from those criminal organisations that are nation state funded. It’s never been more crucial to have professional advice and guidance on tap.

How Should SMEs View Cyber Security?

We experience a quite varied attitude amongst SMEs to cyber security. There is still a prevalent view that they are not really a target because they’re not worth it, and we’ve commented again and again that this is simply not so. SMEs are considered low hanging fruit amongst cyber criminals simply because they tend to have weaker defences and don’t have easy access to the right levels of advice and guidance.

Good cyber defences can be seen in a similar light to insurance. Whilst you hope that you’ll never need it, you understand that it’s safer to have it and in turn, the insurance company will require you to meet certain requirements for your policy to remain extant.

100% protection against an attack is simply not possible and no responsible cyber security company will guarantee that. But we do try and empower businesses by forging intelligent defences to protect them in an ever-evolving threat landscape, being made more dangerous as criminals adopt AI in greater numbers.

SMEs face many of the same cybersecurity threats as large organisations, but they are often more vulnerable due to limited resources, staff, and awareness. So far it’s being reported that the biggest cybersecurity threats to SMEs in 2025 include:

Phishing & Social Engineering

What it is: Deceptive emails, texts, or calls that trick employees into revealing credentials or installing malware.
Why it matters for SMEs: They often have no formal training or tools to detect phishing. A single click can lead to a major breach.

Ransomware Attacks

What it is: Malware that encrypts data and demands a ransom for decryption.
Why SMEs are targets: They’re seen as “soft” targets, less likely to have backups or strong defences, more likely to pay.

Business Email Compromise (BEC)

What it is: Fraudsters impersonate executives or vendors to trick employees into sending money or sensitive data. Traditionally done by email spoofing, now increasingly being done by AI impersonation.
Why it’s dangerous: BEC is low-tech but high impact, no malware, just manipulation. Losses can be substantial.

Poor Password Hygiene

Common issues: Weak, reused, or shared passwords; lack of multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Impact: Credential stuffing and brute-force attacks are easy ways into SME systems.

Unpatched Software & Systems

What it is: Outdated software with known vulnerabilities.
Why it happens: SMEs often delay updates due to compatibility fears or lack of IT resources.
Real threat: Attackers automate the search for these flaws.

Supply Chain Attacks

What it is: Attackers target less secure vendors or partners to infiltrate your network.
Relevance: SMEs often rely on third-party services (e.g. MSPs, cloud tools), but don’t vet their security rigorously. Check their Ts&Cs, what are they responsible for and what are you responsible for? This is becoming a big issue amongst those with critical supply chains of which SMEs may be a part.

Insider Threats (Malicious or Accidental)

Malicious: Disgruntled employees stealing or sabotaging data.
Accidental: Well-meaning staff misconfiguring systems or clicking unsafe links.
Problem: SMEs rarely have monitoring tools in place to catch insider issues early.

Insecure Remote Work Infrastructure

Examples: Unsecured Wi-Fi, lack of VPNs, personal device use (BYOD).
Why it’s risky: Many SMEs embraced remote/hybrid work without upgrading their security posture.

Lack of Cybersecurity Training

Result: Employees don’t recognise threats or understand basic security practices.
Impact: Human error is still a major cause of breaches. Cyber Awareness Training is arguably the biggest and cheapest quick win an employer can take.

Cloud Misconfigurations

Common mistake: Leaving cloud storage exposed to the internet.
Why it happens: SMEs may lack specialised cloud knowledge or rely on default settings. Check with your supplier.

Bonus: AI-Powered Attacks

Emerging trend: Attackers use generative AI to craft more convincing phishing emails, deepfakes, and automated reconnaissance. Check out our earlier blog on this subject (An increase in sophistication of cyber-attacks).
Why SMEs should care: These tools lower the barrier for attackers and increase the success rate of scams.

What practical advice would we have for SMEs? Obviously, that depends on the SME, their vertical, how they operate etc. But generally:

Enable MFA everywhere.
Train staff regularly.
Keep software up to date.
Back up data (and test recovery).
Use endpoint protection.
Identify where all your sensitive data resides.
Investigate protective monitoring services.
Investigate Cyber Security Insurance.
Hire or consult a cybersecurity professional, even part-time.

Risk Analysis and Security Strategy