For the second year in a row, the manufacturing industry has fallen victim to more cyberattacks than any other major business sector. Indeed, according to IBM Security's X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, nearly 25 percent of all cyberattacks in 2022 were carried out against manufacturers.

Many attacks are carried out by large and well-funded Organised crime groups supported by state actors. And the West’s overt support for Ukraine in the ongoing war in Europe is only likely to lead to more aggressive attacks as Russia seeks to punish those nations and organisations it believes are frustrating its geo-political ambitions.

Increasingly cyber experts are accepting that blocking all cyber-attacks is not an achievable outcome and that it makes sense to be prepared for when the breach occurs. Being well prepared for a breach is a key step in making yourself resilient in the online world.

To save you the time of having to start one from scratch – go to our ,tools section and download an Incident Response plan for free. All you have to do is read it and fill in the key bits of information and you have a document that you can rely on if the worst actually happens.

What is Incident Response?

Unfortunately, the first time that an organisation discovers they need an Incident Response Plan often coincides with the realisation that they don’t actually have one.

The plan itself is simply a document containing the details of key personnel who you can contact if you are worried that you have been victim of a cyber-attack. It also contains key information to help you move through the various stages of containment and then recovery.

Having a good response plan means that you are more likely to come through the experience more quickly and efficiently and with less of your systems exposed to the hack. And the responsibility for establishing and maintaining a plan is down to the business owner and not the managed service provider you use for your IT.

If you find that you have been breached, you may never find out exactly how – what is important is that at that point the criminals still have access to your network. The wrong decisions now could have a devastating effect on your business, and you could face additional, financial, and reputational loss if you don’t make the right decisions next.

As can be seen in the below diagram you will start in the triage stage of the breach, trying to figure out what the scale of the breach is and the impact now and in the future.

Practice Practice Practice

Once you’ve got an incident response plan prepared the next stage to establish your readiness is to try it out in a safe environment.

The National Cyber Security Centre’s ,Exercise in a Box is an excellent starting point. This exercise will help you to check out how well you and your business can respond to a cyber-attack.

Contact us now and we can arrange for a local Police Cyber Protect Officer to go through this with you free of charge.

You could then speak to us about completing a Cyber Business Continuity Review with one of our students – that will look at your currents plans and provide feedback on their suitability.

So, what should I do now?

The ECRC is a police- led organisation that can help you with identifying your cyber vulnerabilities and how to fix them. At this stage we would advise you to do these four things now.

1. Head to our ,tools section and download an Incident Response plan for free
2. Join our free community membership and you will be supported through implementing the changes you need to make to protect your business and your customers.
3. For all organisations in the Eastern region we would recommend that you look at improving you overall cyber resilience through the free Little Steps pathway we provide to Cyber Essentials – the basic government backed kite mark standard for cyber security. As a free member we will take you as far as the CE accreditation process. And remember that a company operating under Cyber Essentials processes is 99% protected either fully or partially from today’s common cyber-attacks. And if you want to pay for the assessment, we can refer you to one of our Cyber Essentials Partners – all regionally based cyber security companies that can help you become accredited.
4. We would also recommend that you speak to your Managed Service Provider and / or website company to discuss how they can implement cyber resilience measures on your behalf.

Reporting Cyber Crime

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).