technology Is your business the weakest link?


Mike Rixon, relationship director at Close Brothers Technology Services, looks at the ways companies can combat cyber criminals


Much has been said and written about cyber security and we regularly hear in the news about the latest business that has been targeted and successfully hacked by cyber criminals.


With most businesses operating digitally in some form, and as cyber criminals become more and more sophisticated, business leaders need to stay ahead of these criminals to ensure their business isn’t ‘the weakest link’.


As businesses push more and more of their services online, their vulnerability to cyber attack increases. The financial and reputational damage caused by data loss and downtime can have a huge, even devastating impact.


Digital Transformation and the Internet of Things brings significant business opportunities and benefits which we’re all aware of, but it also brings risks to businesses in the form of data theft, money, or business disruption. Cyber security is about protecting your network, data, customers and your reputation. Here are some of the key areas businesses need to focus on:


Criminal profiteering


Cyber crime is big business with cyber criminals looking to both minimise their risks, in terms of financial cost for them to breach security systems and minimise the risk of being caught for the maximum gain. The value of data has led to an explosion of cyber attacks and the potential rewards for successful attacks can be large.


Business breaches come in many shapes and forms and all organisations face one of two types of cyber attack:


Deliberate attack: targeting a high-profile business which appears to have valuable data (or there is some other publicity benefit in a successful attack).


Opportunistic attack: automated scanning detects the existence of exploitable vulnerabilities. Virtually every internet-facing entity, unless it has been specifically tested and secured, will have exploitable vulnerabilities.


Thames Valley, Solent & South


Mike Rixon, relationship director 07703 886950 mike.rixon@closebrothers.com


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – MARCH/APRIL 2019 businessmag.co.uk 11


Is the solution only about technology?


The simple answer is no; technology is only one strand of improving cyber security. There are three key elements to having a robust security policy in place:


• Having the latest technology platforms


• Implementing robust business, operating and monitoring processes


• The human interface Constant Investment


Managing your companies cyber security is a constant investment and at Close Brothers Technology Services, we can help make sure your technology platform – both hardware and software – is at the leading edge of what’s available in the marketplace.


By using our technology funding facilities, we can also help spread the cost over an agreed period that suits your technology refresh strategy – enabling you to stay one step ahead.


Sophisticated cyber criminals operate as a business and they look for vulnerable businesses that don’t have robust operating procedures and technology platforms. They’re in search for the weakest link, which is often the human interface (employees) within a business.


If they are strong in terms of disciplines of technology platform, security systems operating these platforms, business procedures and processes, and have an awareness programme for their staff and their customers, it will help to make them more secure by not allowing weak links to be exploited – which is where the cyber criminals are going to target first.


Close Brothers Technology Services and its partners are committed to staying at the forefront of providing the best levels of defence and mitigation against attacks of all kinds to give our customers peace of mind that their internal and external networks are secure.


Find out more closebrotherstechnology.co.uk


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