Use This Survey to Benchmark Your Annual Cyber-performance Against Your Peers
Protecting your organisation with cyber-security measures is more important than ever as data breaches continue to be an everyday threat for businesses and charities throughout the United Kingdom.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport recently released its 2018 Cyber Security Breaches Survey, which exposes the most common cyber-breaches of the previous year and summarises approaches to cyber-security across different industries. The survey, which collected research from both businesses and charities about cyber-related incidents in the past 12 months, identified the following key points:
Your business practices can increase your chances—The survey found several factors that can be linked to an increased likelihood of breaches within organisations, such as:
- Holding data on customers or donors electronically
- Allowing employees to use their personal devices for work
- Permitting cloud computing
There are consequences—Of those that experienced a data breach in the past year, 37 per cent of businesses reported suffering negative impacts, including:
- Temporary loss of access to files or networks
- Software or systems corrupted or damaged
- Website or online services being taken down or slowed
It can happen again—Unfortunately, just because your organisation endures a data breach doesn’t mean you are safe from another disaster. The survey found 17 per cent of businesses that suffered from a data breach in the past year averaged one each month, while 9 per cent of businesses experienced several each day.
Organisations need cover—Despite the threat of data breaches, UK organisations’ cyber-security measures are subpar. In fact, only 9 per cent of businesses reported having a specific cyber-security insurance policy in place. The top reasons for organisations not purchasing cover included:
- Organisations don’t feel they are at risk (41 per cent)
- Organisations lack awareness of available policies (22 per cent)
Preparation is lacking—Only 27 per cent of businesses have a formal cyber-security policy or policies (down from 33 per cent last year). In addition, only 28 per cent of businesses document their cyber-security risks in business continuity plans, internal audits or risk registers, and only 13 per cent reported having a formal cyber-security incident management process in place.
To find out more about how you can protect your business please contact a member of the team – 0161 233 4499
