The government has told British businesses to lock the digital door against cyber criminals. This is useful advice, because the internet has never respected a handwritten sign saying “back in five”.
A new campaign is urging firms to use Cyber Essentials and adopt five basic protections. The advice includes keeping software updated and controlling access to accounts and data. It is the digital equivalent of locking up, turning off the lights and asking why Barry still uses “password123”.
The figures explain the urgency. The government says cyber threats cost UK businesses £14.71 billion a year, while half of small businesses experienced a breach or attack in the previous 12 months. Significant incidents cost an average of £195,000, which is an expensive way to discover that the office laptop has been sharing its password with the stationery cupboard.
Denise Firewall runs a small shop. She laughed when she saw the advice. “We have locked the front door for years,” she said. “Now we are learning that the laptop needs a lock too, which feels greedy but fair.”
The campaign recommends firewalls, secure configuration, software updates, user access control and malware protection. These are sensible measures, although user access control may prove difficult in offices where everyone knows the password, including the person who left three years ago and still receives the Christmas email.
Government figures say Cyber Essentials adoption among larger companies has risen from 23 per cent to 30 per cent. The campaign is aimed particularly at smaller firms, which are being encouraged to improve their defences without needing a large IT department or a specialist who enters the building only when the printer has declared independence.
The proposed Cyber Security and Resilience Bill is intended to strengthen protections for essential and digital services and key suppliers, including energy, water, healthcare and data centres. Britain is therefore putting a sturdier lock on the systems that keep modern life running, probably just before somebody emails the key to Accounts.
The message is simple. Update the software. Limit access. Use a proper password. Britain has secured the digital front door, while Barry has secured his password in a spreadsheet called New Password, protected by password123.
Source: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and National Cyber Security Centre.
