Insights

Ransomware and state affiliated hacktivist groups dominated the cyber news headlines this week.

2022 has been a difficult year for cyber security, with many organisations struggling to get to grips with the security challenges of working safely in a decentralised workplace. As the Cyber Security Breaches Survey highlights, 39% of businesses report having cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months.  

The World Cup has kicked off and as predicted the surge in tournament related phishing campaigns has appeared. You may also have noticed a rise in the number of scam emails and texts relating to the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales too.

More and more organisations are realising the benefits of achieving compliance with an international security standard, and more specifically the ISO27001.It’s a standard that was first released in October 2005sowhy is thisstill relevant today?– It continues to be largely drivenby client requirements, the desire for a competitive advantage or simply wanting to ensure the most robust security practices for the company and its stakeholders. 

The Covid-19 pandemic changed the way we work in the UK and Ireland forever. As companies experimented with remote working to maintain productivity, many employees became accustomed to the idea of working from home and enjoying a greater work-life balance.  

The cybersecurity world is preparing for three major events in the calendar over the coming weeks. The FIFA World Cup, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, all events that typically result in increased activity by cyber criminals as they seek to exploit shoppers and football fans.

Cyber criminals and other threat actors are looking to kick their activities into a higher gear as three major upcoming events provide the perfect opportunities to launch phishing and other cyber-attacks.

It’s been another busy week in the world of cyber security. The ongoing war in Ukraine has seen NATO warn of a growing cyber threat, and all eyes were on the US for signs of any attacks aimed at causing disruption to the mid-term elections.

While many organisations spend thousands on preventative cyber security tools, many make the mistake of overlooking the fact that cyber criminals are spending less time relying on brute force to gain access to protected information and more time on manipulating or bribing employees into giving up personal information.  

This week we learned how one ransomware group is responsible for the vast majority of ransomware attacks this year and a new report from the NCSC highlighted the true scale of cybercrime in the UK.

After years of increased threat complexity, most organisations simply don’t have the resources necessary to build an in-house cyber security strategy that’s equipped to deal with modern threats.  

One of the biggest challenges cyber security leaders need to grapple with in today's world is that malicious actors aren't always distant entities but are often people you work with on a day-to-day basis. The reality is that any employee or contractor with physical access to IT systems can leak private information and cause a data breach.