Four in ten micro and small businesses (38 per cent) and a quarter of charities (26 per cent) report having cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months.
- New report suggests the cyber risk to organisations has increased during the pandemic.
Data shows 27% of small businesses are being attacked at least once a week.
Just one in three micro and small businesses (33 per cent) have completed a cyber risk assessment.
Two in five businesses (38 per cent) and a quarter of charities (26 per cent) report having cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months, according to new figures from the Government’s 2021 Cyber Security Breaches Survey.
The survey’s report also shows that despite more small business owners saying that cyber security is a high priority (77%), just 13% of smaller business are training their staff. It’s so important to keep your staff trained, the pandemic has seen more staff than ever working from home. And with 47% of staff using personal devices for work, the survey found just 33% have a VPN when remote working.
Keep digital environments secure is more challenging as organisational resources are stretched to enable home working for staff and companies are falling behind in ensuring the right cyber securities are in place. Just 31% of micro and small businesses have a cyber security policy in place, which is down from 37% in 2020.
The government is continuing to encouraging businesses, charities and educational institutions to follow the free help and guidance from the UK cyber security experts at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). It includes advice on the secure use of video conferencing, secure home working and how to move your business from physical to digital. This week the CRC has updated our guidance specifically to help educators boost their cyber resilience.
