Insights

In today’s threat landscape, the question for most organisations is no longer if a breach will occur but when. Being breach ready means having the structures, people and processes in place to respond effectively and minimise damage. A well-designed Incident Response (IR) plan gives your team a clear roadmap during a crisis, reduces confusion and accelerates recovery. Here’s how to build one that works in practice.

When it comes to cyber security the role of the board has never been more critical. No longer can directors view cyber security as just an IT concern. A board that is breach ready can help ensure an organisation not only survives an incident but emerges stronger. To achieve this, boards must take a proactive stance, embedding cyber resilience into governance, culture, and decision-making. 

With cyber criminals developing more sophisticated online and offline threats, security breaches are a matter of if, not when.

Cyber security incidents don’t clock in at 9 and clock out at 5. They strike whenever a weakness is found – whether it’s a misconfigured cloud service, a successful phishing attack, or a zero-day exploit. And when they do, the speed and efficiency of your response can mean the difference between a manageable incident and one with catastrophic business consequences. 

Cyber security is not optional. Whether you lead a small startup or a large corporation, in any industry from manufacturing to healthcare, your business runs on technology and data.

As 2025 approaches its halfway point, cyber attackers have already left a trail of disruption, compromise, and data theft. This year has seen some of the largest data breaches in history, affecting millions of individuals and organisations across sectors. From leaked credentials and telecom breaches to attacks on healthcare and cloud services, the trend is clear: cyber risk is not slowing down. 

A ransomware attack is a nightmare scenario for any organisation. It’s disruptive, costly, and often deeply damaging to your reputation. How you respond in the first 24 hours can make all the difference between containment and catastrophe. In those critical moments, fast and informed action is essential. Not just to mitigate harm, but to enable recovery and identify root causes.

It doesn't matter how large your organisation is, you are at risk and sooner or later cyber criminals will try to attack you. It’s not a matter of whether your organisation will face a security incident but when. That's why a robust incident response plan is crucial. So what elements should your incident response plan include to be truly effective?

The UK government’s latest ransomware proposals aim to shield businesses and public services from ransomware attacks that cost the economy billions annually. These proposed new measures aim to target the financial lifelines of cybercriminals by banning ransomware payments from public sector bodies and critical national infrastructure organisations, such as the NHS, local councils, and schools. The government’s approach also includes mandatory ransomware incident reporting to bolster law enforcement’s ability to disrupt criminal networks.

Microsoft’s latest Patch Tuesday release addressed 16 critical vulnerabilities, all classified as remote code execution flaws—a stark reminder of the importance of proactive patch management.

The recently discovered vulnerabilities in Veeam Service Provider Console, tracked as CVE-2024-42448 and CVE-2024-42449, have been classified as critical and high severity. If exploited, these vulnerabilities could severely undermine system integrity and operational security, jeopardising sensitive data and backup operations.

We continue our lookback at the biggest cyber attacks of 2024… so far. Read Part one HERE