The cyber threat to UK business is real, and it’s growing
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued a clear warning regarding UK business cyber threats: Cyber threat to all UK sectors is evolving and growing rapidly, and every UK business, regardless of size or sector, needs to be genuinely ready.
Is your business genuinely prepared for a cyber-attack?
Here’s what you need to know.
NCSC CEO Dr Richard Horne appeared on BBC Sounds to clearly highlight the escalating cyber threat facing all UK organisations. A dramatically shifting global landscape, and the use of AI allows attackers to be bolder, quicker, and consider a wider target environment.
Critical sectors including Energy, Defence, Transport, Healthcare, Financial Services and Communications will always be in the crosshairs. By default so will their suppliers and service providers, but attacks will occur against any UK organisation or business, where weakness and vulnerability can be exploited, and where disruption can result in profit for organised criminals, or a geo-political advantage for a nation-state threat actor.
This isn’t an IT issue
A successful, modern, attack whether against the business, its technology, or in the supply chain, will bring an entire business to a halt very quickly, and for a damaging length of time.
This is obviously both an information security and a cyber security issue, but also causes reputational and financial issues, and for organisations that deliver essential services, national security and regulatory issues too. So what? This means the associated issues and the risks, belongs to every Board or Executive, must be on their agenda, and need to be addressed.
The UK NCSC’s Four Priorities for your organisation
Build and test your plan before a cyber attack hits
A plan on paper isn’t enough. Your people, team, and executive stakeholders need to know exactly what to do before an attack happens, what it feels like under time pressure when systems are not working – who takes charge, what gets isolated, who gets called, and how to quickly understand exactly what is happening, and what to do about it.
How we Help
Cyber Incident Exercising, Virtual CISO, Security Maturity Assessments and Remediation Services
Stay aware of the threat landscape
Understanding how attackers operate, their tactics, techniques, and targets, as well as the latest indicators, puts you in a stronger position to detect, prevent, and respond quickly. Pro-actively monitoring credible threat intelligence sources, and participating in industry information sharing networks is as vital as testing your defences and managing your attack surface.
Staying informed about UK cyber threats as they evolve is a core part of maintaining strong business cyber resilience.
How we help
Breach & Attack Simulation, Threat Aware Security Services
Strengthen your defences now
Applying the security basics well: timely patching of systems, robust access controls, effective threat detection and response, all help to minimise the digital attack surface. Planned and integrated use of modern, AI enabled platforms and systems should identify and prevent or stop threat actor activity, before it can escalate.
How we help
Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus Assessment and Readiness, ISO 27001 & 42001 Compliance
Plan to respond to an attack, and minimise your recovery time
True business cyber resilience means being able to continue essential operations with resilient services and systems while under attack, minimise disruption and outage time, and recover quickly with minimal data or financial loss. Shift to a ‘when, not if’ mindset; review, rehearse and refine your recovery and continuity plans, regularly.
Immediate Action
Get your incident response plan and your people, in place
Cyber incident exercising is a NCSC cyber security guidance recommended method to validate your incident response function in a realistic, controlled scenario, before a real attack occurs.
Our team of specialists simulate relevant attack scenarios, tailored to your sector and the current threat landscape, identify gaps in your cyber incident response plan, capability and continuity measures, and help you build the muscle memory your organisation needs to be prepared, confident and effective.
Not sure where to begin? A maturity or readiness assessment backed with a scalable cyber incident exercise gives you a clear picture of where your people, processes and technology stand, and will give you a prioritised roadmap to close gaps, and be ready, with confidence. Contact us today to get started.
