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ybercrime is a sprawling, uncontrolled and uncontrollable phenomenon that keeps morphing


and mutating in new, sometimes unpredictable, ways. When you’re in business the only way


to tackle such an erratic threat is to take an ordered and planned approach that consists of identifying, analysing and countering the risks you face. To do so, it’s vital to be aware of how the landscape is changing and what help is out there to guide you through the challenging environment.


The academic viewpoint Omair Uthmani, of Glasgow Caledonian University, said: “As more and more business processes become digital, the attack footprint for malicious use is substantially greater.


“Larger institutions can find it


difficult to move to new operating systems, and therefore they end up using unsupported software. As we saw last year with the NHS, that can make them vulnerable. “Even if they can transition to something new it might bring its own problems. For example, how does this integrate with older software they are already using? Recently, Microsoft made some tweaks that meant parts of its operating systems are not backward compatible.“ Fortunately, Omair believes that these days SMEs are more tuned in to potential problems. His advice is to make sure your software and operating systems are licensed and have the most recent security patches as released by Microsoft, Apple and so on. “Just ensuring that happens goes a long way to maintaining security.” In terms of new trends, he said


BUSINESS C


more companies are adopting a “bring your own device” approach, where employees use their personal mobile devices for work tasks. That presents its own risks. “In these cases it’s important


to make users aware that if you ‘jailbreak’ the device, in other words override the security mechanisms it came with, you’re opening it up to malicious applications. “Accompanying this, malware on mobile phones is the biggest threat on the horizon. There are far more mobiles on the go than laptops or desktop PCs. And the sheer flood of applications on mobile makes it hard to guarantee security – there have even been malicious apps discovered on the Google Play store.”


The specialist approach Paisley-based Seric Systems operates at the sharp end of cybersecurity, providing services to companies and organisations of all types. In the experience of its Director of Consultancy, Craig Devlin, one current prevalent risk is ransomware. That’s where company systems


are infected through malicious intent, or accidentally, and their data is held hostage. “That could be data that allows your business to operate, or it could be sensitive information, the release of which has repercussions under the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which come into effect in May 2018. GDPR allows for fines to be imposed if information is leaked or not properly protected.” If your data is held to ransom, the


cost to get a device unencrypted can vary. What’s more, as Craig warns, there is no guarantee you will get all your data back. And, depending on


The focus is on pragmatic solutions that take into account the organisation’s


aspirations and in-house capabilities”


how you handle the situation, costs can increase. “We’ve seen cases where people wanted to pay quickly and the hacker trebled the fee because they could see they had an easy target.” Even if you do pay up you could well be get hit again. “Most people that are hit by ransomware are hit multiple times,” said Craig.


When a client comes to Seric Systems for help, the first task is to establish a baseline This helps make sure it’s possible to define outcomes and assess the success of any measures taken. “To fix any problem you first have be clear what the scale and scope of that problem is,” added Craig.


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