Cyber Solutions

GET YOUR BUSINESS PROTECTED – STAY CYBER SAFE!

Cybercriminals are plotting to breach your network right now… but what can you do to prevent it?

It’s a known fact that small businesses are more likely to be targeted by cybercriminals than any other business or organization.

While we only hear about major breaches on the news, we don’t get to hear the stories of the businesses that struggle with cyber breaches and cyber-attacks.

Why are small businesses targeted more?

Hackers love to go after small businesses for one very big reason: small businesses are less likely to invest in top-notch or even worthwhile cybersecurity protection or cyber insurance.

The reason comes down to many factors but the two in particular are: lack of resources and lack of knowledge. Of course, this is a wider subject of discussion, as hackers also look at a business’s customer base and the type of data the business shares online. Hackers go after targets they can profit from, whether they hold a business’s data hostage and demand a ransom or they launch a carefully plotted phishing attack.

Some businesses make it past the attack unscathed, but many don’t. Their data might be compromised in one way or another.

So, what can you do about this and how can you protect your business?

First and foremost, you have to realize YOUR business is a target, regardless if you’ve never been hacked before (it might just mean the hackers haven’t gotten to you just yet). Aside from a good business risk assessment, you have to look at getting cyber insurance protection in case an unfortunate situation arises.

To help you with this, Citynet Insurance Brokers provide fully tailored and comprehensive cyber insurance solutions. Our team of experienced professionals is working with a wide number of markets and can put together the right solution for your or your client’s business needs.

Cyber breach and how to protect your business

We’ve all heard about the Dixons Carphone cyber breach involving a hacking attempt on 5.9 million payment cards and 1.2 million personal data records.

Whilst Dixons stated that there was no evidence that the cards have been used fraudulently, it has come as a major blow to the business which faces a potential fine under GDPR, especially after the company was already fined £400,000 by the ICO for a data breach as result of a cyberattack in 2015.

One lesson to be learned here is that cyberattacks could have devastating effects, not on just big organisations but the SMEs are equally at risk, so protecting and monitoring your business must be treated as a priority.

To protect your business from Cyber breach, there are few simple steps you need to consider.

• • Understanding the risks – is often seen as just an IT issue and more often than not, might not be filed in the ‘urgent matters’ category. As a business, you need to understand that hackers do not just use IT infrastructure to infiltrate databases, telephone systems and even printers might offer a window into your system. This is why understanding your requirements and the risks are so important.
  • Complex, regularly updated passwords are harder to crack
  • Good anti-virus software and spam filters
  • Data encryption and security access measures
  • Monitoring software should also be considered for reporting any breaches within the time frame set out by GDPR.
  • Educating your staff – this is perhaps one of the most important steps that can be taken to prevent cyber breaches. The majority of hacking attempts do come through email. A good staff education on how to deal with these situations is imperative and could prevent a disaster from happening.
  • Backing up systems regularly

Reportedly, 46% of UK Businesses identified a cybersecurity breach in the last year, no-one is exempt from cyber threats. Make your network secure by developing and implementing some simple policies and responses. See here the FCA new infographic on how to achieve this.

Cybersecurity doesn’t have to be expensive but one question remains:

Can you really put a price on protection, given the multiple ways hackers can infiltrate your business and the effect a data breach can have? Citynet’s Cyber insurance services might just be your answer.

Find out how we can help protect your and your clients’ businesses against data breach, by simply getting in touch with us.