A pivotal question that all leaders consider in the interest of their company. The natural reaction is immediately to think of physical security-sufficient alarms and cctv systems in place; any valuables held on site kept in a locked safe; video entry phone systems installed protecting the interests of your employees. What about the risks that often go unidentified until a major incident occurs? Could your team be jeopardising your organisation internally without realising?

I’m talking of course about the dangers of a cyber-attack. Whereby every business is aware that this is a potential threat, the approach is, it is “highly unlikely to occur” therefore investment into this area is not considered a priority. Alternatively, you may have initially had your IT systems monitored and received a certification several years ago and they have been running smoothly since, so why bother?

Let’s look at the statistics for a moment-according to Cyber Security Report 2018 by Gov.UK

• Virtually all UK businesses (98%) and charities (93%) represented in the survey rely on some form of digital communication or services, such as staff email addresses, websites, online banking and the ability for customers to shop online. Charities face further risk with online donations
• Over four in ten businesses (43%) and two in ten charities (19%) have experienced cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months. This rises to seven in ten (72%) among large businesses and a similar proportion (73%) among the largest charities.