Small Businesses at Increased Risk of Malicious Cyber Attacks

Statistically, just under half of all UK businesses have had at least one breach or cyber attack in the past 12 months. These figures from General Business Findings’ Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2017 (Gov.uk, 2017) show a startling increase in the amount of cyber attacks and security breaches happening in the UK.

The technical team at Trisoft have noticed a spike in the number of businesses coming to us for help when they have already been hit by a security breach (most notably ransomware). Unfortunately for these businesses removing ransomware is not easy, and can even be impossible, which is why we provide the best possible IT support and protection packages for our clients, as well as teaching them about online security best practice.

The General Business Findings survey also found that:

 

“The most common types of breaches related to staff receiving fraudulent emails (72% of those who identified a breach or attack), followed by viruses and malware (33%), people impersonating the organisation online (27%) and ransomware (17%).”

 

But what can you do to protect your business from attack?

Email attachments: Ensure you and your staff are cautious about what attachments you open from unknown email addresses. Ransomware and malware are often disguised as attachments which look like invoices or important documents. If you’re not expecting it and don’t recognise the sender, don’t open it.

Hyperlinks: Don’t click on hyperlinks in emails without knowing where they will take you. Hover your mouse over the link and a preview of the destination will show.

Downloads: Make sure you and your staff are cautious about internet downloads. Do you trust the source?

123 Rule: Ensure you have three different file backups across two different locations, on three different medias.

Update: Keep your software and anti-virus up to date to give you the best possible chance of filtering malicious attacks and security breaches.

Invest: If you don’t have an in-house IT Manager, it’s time to invest in an IT support company so that if the worst happens, you have a disaster recovery plan in place with them.

 

How can we help?

Trisoft are Sophos, Mimecast and Veeam partners, so we can offer comprehensive security packages tailored for your business. If you’d like to discuss how we can support and protect your business from cyber attacks, contact us today on: 0115 822 3456 or sales@trisoft.co.uk.