Seven things we’ve discovered so far this year about cybersecurity
Next week, technology experts will flock to West London for Infosecurity Europe – one of the largest information security exhibitions.
If you're going and are worried you'll run short of water cooler conversation topics to discuss with your fellow delegates, here's seven things that have come to light about cybersecurity so far this year:
Cybersecurity is still yet to break into the boardroom…
The year is 2016, but you might not know it if you were to walk into some boardrooms across the UK. Government research released last month found that 54 per cent of boards at FTSE 350 companies only hear about cyber security incidents occasionally, or, worse, not until something has actually gone wrong.
…Even though business leaders are actually really worried about being a target
In March, research from CGI and the Centre for Economics and Business Research discovered that more than a third of the UK's business chiefs believed that their company would be the subject of a hack at some point in the next 12 months.
When it comes to your boss on Facebook, it's not an awkward picture comment you should be worried about
A study released in March by Digitalis Reputation found that business leaders were regularly exposing sensitive data about themselves online. Only 51 per cent have changed their privacy settings on websites such as Facebook and just 24 per cent check what information can be easily found about them online on a regular basis, leaving them open to attacks using social engineering.
Training on the subject is surprisingly retro
In April, a study by AXELOS discovered that not even a third of firms were using modern techniques, such as gamification and animation, in their cyber security training and 46 per cent didn't provide anything beyond a brief session at induction and an annual refresher course.
The financial services sector is a would-be cybercriminal's dream
A report released by Marsh and TheCityUK last month found that the cocktail of a large amount of data, some serious cash and some very high-profile names made the financial sector an ideal target for cybercrime.
"You have people who would just literally love to put a bank down, or indeed take the system down, if they could and that clearly has rather larger consequences than an element in the p&l of a credit card business," Mark Weil, chief executive of Marsh and chair of TheCityUK Cyber Taskforce, told City PM
Compliance staff are among the most likely to be an insider threat…
A report by FTI Consulting in April found that three out of five members of compliance teams would consider taking data belonging to their employer if there circumstances were right, such as feeling like they had been treated badly by their employer or wanting to start their own company.
…and you should be watching out for the senior staff too
A report released in February by PwC discovered that 18 per cent of fraud is now being committed by senior management, up from just seven per cent in 2014.