NCC : Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2018 promotes need for clear security advice to businesses

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has published its Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2018, a survey of UK organisations which provides an overview of the nature and significance of cyber security threats faced by these businesses, and what others are doing to stay secure.

It found that 43% of businesses and 19% of charities have experienced data breaches or cyber attacks during the last 12 months, rising to almost three quarters of all large organisations.

Commenting on the results, Ollie Whitehouse, global chief technology officer at NCC Group, said: 'Once again, this survey shows a consistently evolving threat landscape and an attack surface that is growing in size. However, it also highlights a positive mind-set amongst businesses, who are continuing to prioritise cyber security across senior management and increasingly implement basic technical controls in order to achieve some level of protection.

'Nevertheless, there is no room to be complacent. There's still quite a bit more work to be done to ensure that organisations are better prepared with formalised policies and cyber incident response plans. Too few organisations - 13% of businesses and 8% of charities - have defined cyber incident management processes. That is not good enough. The steadily increasing prevalence of cyber threats means that it is vital for organisations in all industries to have a clear and ideally well-rehearsed plan of who will do what, when they become a target.

'We cannot simply point the finger at government and business to fix things. It's now as much up to the UK's cyber security industry to act upon organisations' demand for simpler and more tailored guidance and advice that means something and can make a measurable difference to organisations of all sizes.'

The full Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2018 is available online: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/702074/Cyber_Security_Breaches_Survey_2018_-_Main_Report.pdf

ENDS

Published date: 25 April 2018