FOCUS FEATURE
POST-COVID CYBER TRENDS Cyber security on a budget
The rise in e-commerce means the need to be vigilant against cyber vulnerabilities is even more important, whether you’re a large or micro trader, says Tim Lenton, technical director at Purpose Media. He explains to Dan Robinson how the protective measures don’t need to be expensive.
The shift from physical to online has been one of the accelerating trends throughout the pandemic, as lockdowns have forced a rethink about how people buy goods and services. In the week following the second
national lockdown in England that ended on 5 December, retail footfall was 41.3% down on the same week in 2019, according to data from Springboard. For many small businesses like independent bakeries, craft shops and dance schools that have previously existed as purely bricks and mortar, it’s meant they’ve had to pivot online in order to survive, with 35% of personal businesses beginning to offer services online during the pandemic. And while sole traders might not
expect to find themselves in the firing line of cyber-attackers, Tim Lenton urges them to think again. “Anything that’s online is
vulnerable,” he says. “The vast majority of websites won’t usually have any issues but making sure all bases are covered is important. “It’s almost akin to insurance on
a product – you don’t think about it until you need to use it. Many businesses might think it won’t happen to them but it doesn’t matter how big or small you are, anyone could be on the receiving end of an attack. “Some companies have all their
custom online so if something happened to the website, they wouldn’t have a business.” Tim, who oversees Purpose
Media’s web services – which, alongside cyber security, includes website development, maintenance
and data centre solutions – works with more than 300 clients, ranging from sports clubs like Derby County and Derbyshire County Cricket Club through to firms such as Mansfield-based Golf Support and Rotherham-based True Refrigeration. He’s noticed more SMEs joining
the e-commerce revolution, with one small furniture retailer that was forced to close its shop for much of 2020 increasing its online sales tenfold during lockdown – and now flipping its business model into a predominantly web-based one. “The company had a website
beforehand but didn’t use it much,” says Tim. “Now it’s the main source of revenue. “This is the case for lots of
businesses and there’s not much cost attached to setting up a website on a small scale. “But they don’t always think
about the cyber security element. There’s free tools for WordPress, a popular content management system, which will offer protection to a certain level but as their revenue ramps up, so does the security threat.” Tim says the profile of a company
will also dictate the type of cyber threats they’re likely to face. He adds: “There’s so many
automated bots trawling the web and looking for vulnerabilities. “They’ll look at whether there’s
anything using open-source software and many want to get access to users’ details, but there’s other types of attacks too that can harm a business, such as dropping malicious code onto a site to affect performance. So a lot of the work
SUCH TOOLS ARE all well and good but for many small business owners, the question is simply about where to begin. The Cyber Essential scheme is considered by the
National Cyber Security Centre to be the best first step and protects against 80% of the most basic cyber security breaches, while allowing organisations to showcase their credentials as trustworthy and secure. Certification is based on a focused set of five controls –
firewalls, secure configuration, user access control, malware protection and patch management – and costs £300 to obtain. “Having that framework is a very good place to start for
any business,” says Lee. “It’s mandatory to have if you’re working with Government bodies and many other organisations. “But it’s also a good way of winning business. If you’re in
a tender process and it’s neck and neck, something like Cyber Essentials can be a real differentiator and shows
66 business network February 2021
we put in place is to use automated tools to block a lot of that activity.” One of the world’s most popular
tools in this regard is Cloudflare, which offers protection for external-facing resources such as websites, APIs (application programme interfaces) and applications by acting as a firewall against malicious web traffic. Free plans are available at the small end of the spectrum, with costs typically on a sliding scale between £20 and £100 per month depending on the size of business and protection required. But a lot of the cyber work is far
Tim Lenton
simpler and just ensures companies aren’t storing more data than they need to, which is also part of GDPR legislation. “This means that if anyone did
hack into their system, there’s nothing valuable to steal,” adds Tim.
FOUR POPULAR CYBER-ATTACKS, EXPLAINED BY TIM LENTON
1. Accessing data for malicious intent A lot of people use the same the same email and password across multiple websites so if an attacker can gain access to a user’s log-in details stored by one website, these can then be used across other sites, where they may be able to access financial details.
2. Phishing A cyber-criminal will send an email pretending to be genuine but featuring a link that goes to a malicious webpage. If a company doesn’t have the latest plug-ins on a third-party website such as WordPress, there might be vulnerabilities that can be exploited. They could piggy-back on its servers or create a hidden page on the website, so they have an IP address to send the emails from. This can result in a company’s website being blacklisted by search engines and could cost money to have the issue resolved.
3. Blackmail attempts Particularly in the finance space, companies will often be targeted by blackmail attempts. A hacker might contact the business saying they have all its customers’ details.
4. DDoS attacks Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks will target high-profile businesses by pushing a massive amount of traffic onto their website to crash it and then try to blackmail the organisation.
you’re taking security seriously.” That’s the carrot, but there’s also the stick. Lee is keen to
point out hackers aren’t necessarily always carrying out their attacks with manual human effort these days and there’s often nothing personal about automated bots that scour the web for vulnerabilities finding their way into a system, and wreaking havoc. Cyber-attacks cost UK businesses £34bn, according to a
2015 report by the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), but the reputational price can be greater. “Unfortunately, it’s a question of when, and not if,
organisations are going to be targeted,” adds Lee. “The cost of taking those steps to make sure you’re
protected are always going to be significantly less than if you were to suffer a cyber breach. “It’s relatable to installing an alarm system on your
property – it’s always better to install preventative measures ahead of time, instead of reacting after the event once the damage is done.”
Lee Johnson will speak about Protecting your business and users in a remote world on Tuesday 2 March from 9am to 10am as part of Cyber Week. For more details, see p75 or visit
bit.ly/EMCyberWeek
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92
