The Importance of Cyber Security

All companies that are reliant on electronic systems are at risk of cyber crime.

Cyber crime has risen dramatically in the last couple of years with high profile businesses and organisations being hacked such as; eBay, Sony and the US military. Many organisations don’t take all the necessary precautions to defend themselves and so become a victim to these attacks.

There are many types of cyber crimes directed towards businesses, typical attacks include;

Data Theft

Personal details, credit card accounts and customer data can be stolen and then sold on using illegal black market sites.

Direct hacking

SQL injection, Phishing, denial of service attacks and keystroke loggers are all methods used.

Targeted attacks

Typically targeted at finance departments, these attacks usually have a great deal of planning and sophistication in order to penetrate deep into the system to steal as much data as possible.

PBX Fraud – voice over IP hacking

Hackers take control of the computerised telephone system and make high numbers of premium rate calls to take large sums of money. 

Locking down computed data/system

Hackers are able to lockdown data and refuse to give access until their requirements are met, usually large sums of money.

Because WordPress is the most common CMS hackers are always trying to find flaws to exploit. This makes WordPress and other large CMS sites prone to attacks.

Without the right measures in place hackers could easily penetrate your website. The government has released the Cyber Security Essentials Scheme which gives the guidelines of making your website and data more secure from hacking and cyber attacks.

In the past year physical reported crime incidents have dropped by 500,000, yet the overall reported crime in the UK has risen by 107% due to the inclusion of cyber crime in the report. This statistic is even more alarming because most of cyber crimes aren’t reported due to companies not having to report them. A virus named Zeus infected 1.2 million computers and helped steal 100 million US dollars before it was deactivated. A virus called MyDoom is estimated to have helped cause 38.5 billion USD in financial damages.

Cyber crime has been growing at an alarming rate over the past few years and now it is of upmost importance for businesses to protect themselves against the growing risk of attack.