05 February 2017
In the past year, it seems a day hasn’t gone by where a high-profile cyber breach is documented in the media, and it’s likely that this will see no slowdown in the year ahead.
But at the same time, this has often overlooked the difficulties that smaller organisations face, particularly on limited resources or having smaller IT support teams whose main activity is to keep basic systems functioning, rather than understanding the cyber security threat.
This has caused SMEs to become highly susceptible to cyber breaches as hackers face less resistance in compromising systems and stealing valuable data. Increasing understanding throughout the hierarchy of an organisation and avoiding relying exclusively on outsourcing their security to a third-party can offer an initial stepping stone in improving cyber security in 2017.
While SMEs have had a tougher time adjusting to the issues of cyber security, Tenable Network Security’s 2017 report found that UK security professionals’ confidence in accurately assessing cyber risks has fallen from 73 to 59 per cent since 2016. The research also found that the biggest challenges facing IT security professionals today included “low security awareness among employees” and a “lack of network visibility” due to BYOD practices and shadow IT.
As SMEs seek innovative approaches such as BYOD to help stand out from the crowd, this is resulting in poor network visibility causing another layer of cyber security complications. Encrypting BYOD devices and guaranteeing that they are as secure as other systems in an organisation can help solve the visibility and security issues here.
With constant threats lurking around the corner, organisations must be quick to understand the cyber security issues facing them, otherwise they could see systems breached or even having customers look elsewhere to better cater for their security needs.
Cyber security is an issue that is here to stay, and addressing SMEs innovative approaches to businesses will play a significant role in helping to increase their confidence in it.