Cyber Security Archives

Why SMEs Fear and Ignore Cyber Attacks

Yes, we all fear cyber-attacks, but the reality of the threat doesn’t come into the picture until your network is down and so is your business! According to research by Close Brothers Business Barometer, businesses in the UK are more worried about cyber-attacks now than they were a year ago. Cybercrimes are becoming more devastating for SMEs than natural disasters.

I know what you did this summer

Now that we are at the peak of summer, every other person is going on holiday. It’s easy to let your guard down on holiday – whether its getting chatty with the person sat next to you on the plane, or befriending the other families at the pool. This however, should definitely not be the case when it comes to your cyber security. Whether you are travelling for business, or for leisure, read on to get the best of our travel cyber security tips.

10 IT Terms That Every CEO Should Know

If you are a CEO and sometimes think your IT team speaks a different language, then you are not alone. Many CEOs find it challenging to understand IT terminologies. This blog identifies ten of the most important IT terms which are necessary for CEOs to be aware of. Knowing standard IT terms will give you credibility, broaden your knowledge, and allow you to ask the right questions to help your business stay competitive.

Cyber Essentials from a clients perspective

Recently, we had the pleasure of meeting and getting feedback from Louise Rogers from Human Resources Intelligence. Louise spoke to us about her experience with m3 and how we assisted her business achieve Cyber Essentials Plus certification.

Cyber Essentials is a UK Government scheme to enable business obtain a minimum level of cyber security. In Scotland, up to £1,000 funding is available to help business achieve Cyber Essentials.

You can find out more about Cyber Essentials and how to apply for funding here.

Also, find out more about Louise and her company here.

Cyber Security Breakfast

If you have been following our social media (@m3networks), you will have recently seen our posts about an upcoming event – our Cyber Security Breakfast. This isn’t the first cyber security breakfast; in fact, our past cyber breakfast in Dundee went so well, we just had to bring it to Perth!

This event will be in partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland, who are kindly providing tea/coffee and breakfast rolls for attendees. We will be delving into presentations about fraud, the current threats posed to SMEs, and the steps businesses, like yours, should be taking to meet the UK governments minimal cyber security requirements.

How likely are your staff to fall for a phishing email?

Phishing is one of the most dangerous, yet successful forms of cyber threats to SMEs. Hackers pretend to be trustworthy entities such as clients, colleagues, IT departments or suppliers, and trick you into disclosing sensitive information. According to a survey by Sophos, 41% of businesses reported phishing attacks daily, and over 77% experienced attacks at least once per month.

Why SMEs should outsource their Cyber Security

Cyber attacks are a recurring threat, with almost a third of businesses in the UK reporting cyber security breaches in the past year. As of previous years, this is much higher, particularly among mid-sized enterprises (60%). In a rapidly changing technology landscape, outsourcing cyber security services can help your business remain agile, protect sensitive data, control costs and monitor threats continuously.

Here are the top five benefits of how outsourcing your cyber security services to professionals can minimise your businesses exposure to cyber attacks.

Why are you not Cyber Essentials certified yet?

According to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019, the average cost of all breaches identified in the last 12 months for small businesses was £1,210 while for medium businesses, it was £3,770. Also, around 32% of businesses reported having cyber security breaches in the last 12 months.To meet these cyber security challenges, the UK government has implemented a range of schemes and initiatives. Of all the initiatives, Cyber Essentials (CE) is possibly the most useful for SMEs.

“Only 30% of the enterprises mentioned implementing changes to cyber security because of GDPR.” – Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019

According to a report by NIG, almost 80% of data breaches can be prevented by implementing Cyber Essentials. This initiative brings many benefits to businesses looking to get certified; here are the five most important benefits:

How to protect your company’s sensitive information from being traded on the dark web

Did you know that your employee identity or customer details can be illegally sold for as little as £7 to £10?

Businesses may or may not have heard the phrase “dark web”, and even if they have, it may be difficult to understand what it is and what it can mean to their business. In today’s digital world, online interactions have increased tenfold with digital payment systems, online databases with sensitive information, personal identities and digital corporate information. It has led to an explosion of digital crime with hackers stealing sensitive data and selling them on the dark web.

5 ways Cyber Essentials can Improve your Business

The Cyber Essentials scheme is backed by the government to help companies protect themselves against cyber threats. Cyber Essentials (CE) helps organisations guard against the most common cyber threats by implementing cyber security best practices.

“1 in 6 UK small and mid-sized enterprises fell victim to a cyber attack in the last 12-month duration. Of the enterprises affected, more than one-fifth stated that it cost the company more than £10,000, and 1 in 10 mentioned that it cost more than £50,000.” – Zurich SME Risk Index

Here are five clear benefits of Cyber Essentials: