Tees Business LIVE : January 2024
EVENTS
SECURITY SHOWCASE
Tees Business LIVE : January 2024
WILTON CENTRE , REDCAR
PICTURES : TOM BANKS
Panellists – The first 2024 Tees Business LIVE panel consisted of ( from left ) Bob McKay from Aspire Technology Solutions , Kelly Close of Cleveland Police , Hannah Marshall of Learning Curve Group and Andy Parsons from Womble Bond Dickinson .
Experts : Why size isn ’ t important when it comes to business cybercrime
Don ’ t think your business is too small to be targeted by cybercriminals .
That was among the key messages to come from a thoughtprovoking Tees Business LIVE event that focused on cybersecurity and keeping businesses safe .
About 80 people attended the Wilton Centre for the event , which was organised by Tees Business in association with award-winning managed IT service provider Aspire Technology Solutions .
A four-strong panel of experts discussed various aspects of cybersecurity , including how firms can best protect themselves from cyber-breaches .
And all agreed that when it comes to a large firm being more likely than smaller ones to be targeted by cyber-scammers , size isn ’ t important .
Bob McKay , Aspire ’ s security and operations director , recalled seeing two contrasting news reports : one where telecoms giant Vodafone was targeted , the other where a Scottish hairdresser called Ken had his booking systems encrypted and found a ransomware note for a four-figure sum on his screen .
He said : “ Small businesses are definitely not immune and that showed the reality of it – Vodafone at one extreme , a hairdresser called Ken at the other .
“ Size-wise , it doesn ’ t matter anymore – everyone is fair game .”
Cleveland Police cyber protect and prepare officer Kelly Close agreed , saying : “ Forget the , ‘ I ’ m too small , nobody will be interested in me ’ mentality – because they are .
“ If nothing else , your data is valuable , even if they don ’ t get money from you .
“ I ’ ve dealt with a lot of smaller businesses – most recently it was a twoman band – and the majority are falling victim to phishing .
“ In fact , every single person in this room will have had a phishing email , a text message or a scam call .”
Hannah Marshall , chief technical officer at the Learning Curve Group , agreed that phishing – when criminals use scam emails , text messages or phone calls to trick their victims – was the major issue .
She said : “ We do see people click on links , put their credentials in and then quickly realise – a lightbulb goes off and they contact us so we can rectify the situation quite quickly .
“ We spend a lot of time educating our staff to understand the risk of things like phishing and teach them always to be suspicious .
“ I would rather have 850 people email me every day to say , ‘ This looks wrong ’ rather than someone click on that link .”
Andy Parsons , a partner in the dispute resolution team at law firm Womble Bond Dickinson , agreed that the size of a firm “ makes no difference whatsoever ” – but stressed there were simple measures firms large or small can take to make them more secure .
He said : “ Most hacking is not that clever . It ’ s nearly always phishing , weak passwords or reusing passwords , so it ’ s all in the basics .
“ The question is not if but when . If you haven ’ t been hacked yet , it is probably coming your way at some point because there are so many attackers out there .
“ You all have so many things that can be hacked , it ’ s almost impossible to keep the attackers out completely . Hackers aren ’ t picky – they are pure opportunists , looking for the lowest-hanging fruit .
“ You can ’ t be perfect – perfection doesn ’ t exist .
“ There is no such thing as watertight defences but you don ’ t want to be that lowest-hanging fruit because that ’ s the one the attacker will go for – don ’ t make it easy .
“ Get the basics right – the National Cyber Security Centre website has lists of basic hygiene to keep your organisation secure . Do those basics and you ’ ll go a long way to keeping yourself safe .”
Go to the Cleveland Police website for advice and information about online fraud and cybersecurity .
For more details about Aspire Technology Solutions , visit aspirets . com .
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