The financial and legal sectors have experienced a significant rise in cybercrime activity over the past few years as the following stats from the UK COVID CRIME INDEX 2021 REPORT shows
And it’s not surprising to understand why.
Cybercrime is now the biggest economic threat in the global economy – it’s cheap and easy to carry out and really hard to catch the people doing it. Couple that with remote working, poor cyber hygiene and a post pandemic business model for many that is tied to online trade, and you have created the perfect storm.
The below graphic represents the time to brute force a password using current technological capabilities.
So, passwords should be long and complex.
An ongoing issue is that the more complex the password the more difficult it is to remember - and with the general lack of uptake around password managers the NCSC guidance continues to encourage staff to use three random words as a password instead. Find out more here.
This will need to be led from the CEO and senior management team and will need to be done in conjunction with any in house or outsourced IT support. But the following tips hold true.
The impact of a successful attack against your website or network can be catastrophic and lead to website downtime, loss of business and loss of reputation. In the worst cases it can lead to the closure of the business altogether. But all is not lost.
Here at the centre, we would advise you to do three things now
Once you’re signed up you can access affordable cyber services carried out by our students which can help ID vulnerabilities and help protect your company from scammers and criminals. Contact us now to find out more.
Report all Fraud and Cybercrime to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 or online. Forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk. Report SMS scams by forwarding the original message to 7726 (spells SPAM on the keypad).
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