These online scammers took advantage of companies being underprepared to uproot their offices for remote working practices, with personal internet connections proving a weak link in an otherwise established cyber security protection plan.
Cybersecurity software firm, Nexor, suggest that scammers have wrongfully accumulated £6 billion from UK businesses so far this year.
Worryingly, records also show that there was a 31% increase between May and June – arguably the toughest part of the lockdown. This presents the notion that these scammers are opportunistic and strike when your business may be deemed most vulnerable.
Over the past 12 months, 3,455 UK businesses have reported being scammed out of funds – just over half of these were since the primary lockdown in March.
With more and more attacks of this nature occurring, it’s more important than ever to only click email attachments from sources you trust, and be alert when browsing social media.
However, it’s not just email and social media scams that have put UK businesses at risk this year, with compromised company servers being the second most common threat.
These attacks are arguably the most dangerous, as no direct action from an employee will result in the hackers gaining access, unlike with an email breach.
Instead, the hackers will look for areas of your server where security may be looser and then gain entry to your records, customers and financial reports. This can be especially dangerous as it isn’t always as easy to spot.
The senior Security Consultant at Nexor, Sarah Knowles, suggests that the key to preventing servers from being compromised or hacked is to ensure internal database security is tightened, and any potential weaknesses are identified and fixed.
This is obviously a lot more challenging in the age of home working, but it is a vital step to ensuring cyber security. Knowles goes on to suggest investing in staff awareness training, so your team are vigilant to suspicious emails, calls or texts, and that the correct reporting processes are followed.
Sometimes these emails are opened by mistake and this is a more common occurrence with communication disrupted from working in different locations.
With a bespoke cyber insurance policy, you will be protected from any losses accrued from these types of attacks, keeping your business up and running as usual.
For more information contact us today.
Source: ITProPortal
