At a recent series of events held in Ipswich and Chelmsford as part of law firm Prettys’ Business Academy, 77% of local business owners considered that their business could be a target for cybercrime.
The Government’s National Cyber Security Centre revealed in its latest report ‘Cyber Threat to UK Business Industry 2017-2018’ that cyber-attacks on UK businesses increased significantly in the last year. These included threats from ransomware and data breaches to emerging threats such as theft from cloud storage.
The results of a survey taken during the Business Academy events revealed that businesses in the East of England were just as open to cyber-attacks as those in the rest of the country. Of those surveyed, 50% admitted they had suffered a financial loss related to a cyber-attack and 65% had a contingency plan in place in case cybercriminals target their business. Worryingly, only 27% of those asked were aware of their business having specific insurance to cover the impact of a cyber-attack.
The event, which provided an overview of the different types of cybercrime, practical tips to avoid being caught out and the benefits of cyber insurance, was hosted by Prettys partner Matthew Cole, Dean Coppen, relationship director at Barclays Bank and Nadia McAree from Consort Insurance.
Commenting on the issue of cybercrime, Matthew Cole said: “The threat of a cyber attack for businesses in the UK is ever increasing and it is important that businesses in the East of England, whatever their size, take the correct steps to protect themselves.”
The Business Academy programme is made up of workshops, seminars, and legal updates on a range of topics and are held throughout the year. For more information about Prettys and the Business Academy programme, please see here.
Matthew Cole from Prettys highlighted the risks of cyber crime at a recent event. (Credit and copyright: Prettys)