The United Kingdom (U.K.) has been buzzing about increased cybersecurity defences and protection with recent data breaches like the famous Ashley Madison hacking scandal (among other instances) fuelling public anxiety.
At the Financial Times Cyber Security Europe Summit, Ed Vaizey, Minister for the Digital Economy warned U.K. businesses that they needed to implement stronger security measures and encouraged widespread adoption of the government’s Cyber Essentials program. The scheme outlines the basic controls all businesses should establish to mitigate the damage of data breaches and upon completion, participating organisations receive a badge to demonstrate to clients that they have taken these necessary precautions.
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Now more than ever, residents are demanding this assurance as cyber threats becomes even more prevalent in the U.K. and data regulations continue to be reevaluated for a new unified standard. What exactly is the state of cybercrime, and why is it causing such public unrest? Using Bit9 + Carbon Black, ThreatMetrix, Procorre, and Price Waterhouse Cooper as references, we’ve compiled eight cybersecurity statistics every U.K. IT solutions provider needs to know.
8 U.K. Cybersecurity Stats that Will Make IT Solutions Providers Rethink Their Business Model
The Current Threat Landscape
1. The U.K. is the target of the most cybercrime attacks, ahead of the U.S.
2. 74% of small businesses, and 90% of major businesses, has had a cyber breach of security in the last year.
3. In the second quarter of this year, 36 million fraud attacks worth approximately £2bn were blocked.
Despite the increase in staff awareness training, breaches are still as likely to occur through user error, with people exposing their networks to viruses and other types of malicious software.
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The U.K. Public’s Response
4. 93% of the UK public advocates the mandatory and immediate reporting of all breaches to both the public and authorities.
5. 94% believe businesses should be legally required to establish processes to immediately detect data breaches.
6. 63% want sensitive data to be monitored 24×7.
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The Need for Highly Skilled IT Talent
7. 14% of all new IT openings are jobs in cybersecurity.
8. The increase in demand for cybersecurity experts has led to a rise in wages, with 15% of professionals paid around £100,000 a year.
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There are a few things you should take away from these figures. First, the security of clients’ and prospects’ data continues to be threatened and the consequences will be dire unless IT service providers take action. As we learned with the HIV patient data breach that occurred earlier this year, many of these incidents or the fallout they provoke are often preventable. Just as a hacker will always find a way in, humans will always make mistakes. Ideally, you’d want to train every employee at the companies whose networks you oversee to be 100% security savvy, but expecting this to be the case is impractical. One accidental mass email send here or one foolish click there could shut down their business for good.
“Just as a hacker will always find a way in, humans will always make mistakes”
That’s why you’ve got to be there for them as their trusted business advisor, providing 24x7x365 IT support. The majority wants this anyway! By following in the footsteps of successful MSPs before you and offering a proactive remote monitoring and management (RMM) solution, you can provide clients the peace of mind that the survey results determined they’re looking for. As soon as their network is compromised, your technology will detect it and, depending on whether you’re leveraging a network operations centre (NOC) or not, will leave your team to deliver expedited problem resolution.
Notice also that as the demand for your services climbs so too does the need for highly-trained technicians. The U.K. market has reacted to the onslaught of cyber threats by offering more jobs and higher income to those with cybersecurity chops, but we’ve also learned that an excess of IT labor demand has meant a shortage of IT talent in the U.K. In response, we encourage IT solution providers to adapt and embrace a new business model centered around labor arbitrage. Look for a solution with people-powered technology. When you take advantage of an RMM platform backed by a NOC that acts as an extension of your team, you’re able to more easily scale and grow your business, without growing your payroll.
- [quote_box_center]Sources:
- www.thecommentator.com
- www.computerweekly.com
- www.computerweekly.com
- www.cbronline.com
- www.pwc.co.uk
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Paul Balkwell,