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AI & CYBERSECURITY


SCAMMERS TAKE MORE THAN CASH


Real funding. Real deals.


The human cost of falling victim to cybercrooks was laid bare by a guest speaker at the summit.


Tim Barrow, managing director of Terry Lifts, shared the consequences of the scammers attack on his business a few months ago.


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Wayne Fulton


DON’T BE THE WEAKEST LINK


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Martin Emmott Rosebud


‘Your people are your weakest link.’ That was the stark warning from one of Lancashire’s top experts in cyber security.


Wayne Fulton, head of Cyber Security at Seriun, told the summit: “The human is always at fault, it is never the tech.”


And, urging businesses to put training right at the top of their agendas, he added: “Attackers exploit people and processes that are in a stage of confusion.”


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He warned business leaders to ‘beware of Shadow AI’ – the people in their organisation already using AI tools without approval and which may not be safe.


And he told his audience: “AI relies on data and data comes with risks. Ignore those risks and you will pay later.”


department failed to spot the difference. There was a significant financial loss, just through a lack of attention to detail.”


A manufacturing company found itself locked out of its data after a phishing email tricked a member of staff into clicking a link that allowed the scammer to take control of their computer and enter the network.


Another business that had its security breached, through a third-party supplier whose network had been compromised, faced a ransom demand for £160,000 after it was locked out of its systems. No cash was paid but the company lost nine days of production.


The managing director of a retailer was the victim of a ‘token theft’ – a cyberattack


Create a backup plan. If you don’t have one,


how can you restore things from it? You need to have a backup strategy


Wayne also revealed that Seriun, based in Burnley, had stopped 46 critical incidents from occurring in the past 12 months as part of its support to clients.


He went on to share real-life stories of recent attacks on Lancashire businesses and the impact a cyber breach can have.


They included a company that lost £185,000 after a rogue email came into its purchasing department from a third-party domain.


Wayne said: “It looked very similar to an email domain they would normally do business with. The person in the purchasing


where criminals steal active authentication tokens to impersonate users and access accounts directly.


As a result, the crooks found important documents in his mail box, including bank statements, driving licence and passport. Police later revealed the information was circulating on the dark web.


Wayne’s advice included deleting all personal information from mail boxes, always installing updates and documenting processes.


He added: “Create a backup plan. If you don’t have one, how can you restore things from it?”


Tim Barrow


It began with a phone call to the company’s accounts department which claimed there had been fraudulent activity detected by the bank.


Asked to log on to what appeared to be the bank’s website, two senior members of the company’s management team got involved with the phone conversation.


The scammer at the other end of the line convinced them it was a genuine call by answering a series of questions about company transactions correctly.


It later emerged the crooks were looking at the same screens as their victims after gaining access through the false website and could see all the details.


Around £1m of transactions were loaded by the scammers before the attack was detected by the firm’s genuine bank, who stopped most of it going through. However, the business did lose a “significant amount” that it is still trying to recover.


Tim stressed the effect on the individual members of his team who were involved in the incident.


He said: “The biggest thing for me was the impact on the people and what they felt. It was the mental impact on them. It is still there with them now and I think it will always be there.


“It is that second guessing everything. We have just got to help and support them. Remember the people and the impact it has on them.”


The summit also heard from an expert in the audience who told them: “It’s not if a cyber- attack happens – it’s when.”


Muhammed Yahya Patel, from leading cybersecurity experts Huntress, urged businesses to start planning against potentially damaging attacks.


The 32-year-old, who has appeared on news channels and online media explaining cyber security threats, said: “My question is, can your business survive one of these cyber-attacks?


“Businesses need to start that process and plan what happens if you are. You can’t wait.”


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