Cybersecurity is a top priority for businesses as the threat continues to grow. Cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated, and their nefarious activities have significant repercussions on an organisation’s reputation, if not on its money and infrastructure. According to insights from Gartner’s research, the proof of the growing threat is in how much is spent on cyber security consultancy and services alone – between £120 and £170 billion annually.
But it hasn’t slowed down hackers, especially as it has become a government-sponsored business in some nations (like North Korea). There are several new and old tactics that UK cyber security companies report seeing. Cyber security training courses are available, but many organisations still lack the awareness and money to take advantage of them. Some even think that because of their business’s small size, they are unlikely to be targeted. This kind of thinking is not only unwise but demonstrably false. Cyber security services from a provider that knows how to implement and manage your systems for you is a much better solution than denying today’s realities.
Many factors are happening in the world today that make this the time to at least search out cyber security consultancy and do an audit of your protection level. Increasing pushes toward working remotely, widening skills gap through lack of practical cyber security training courses, and even the rise of connectivity through Internet-of-Things devices gives bad actors more entry points and opportunities to attack. One month in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic alone, saw a 400% rise in online scams.
How would your business fare if hit by a cyber attack today or tomorrow? According to recent UK research, not many organisations can answer or ignore that question. 25% of medium to large businesses and nearly half of the small companies do not seek cyber security consultancy or guidance outside their organisation. And this is while a third of all UK companies report cyber attacks on average once a week.
There is no shortage of UK cyber security companies offering training and consultancy, though perhaps few make it cost-effective for small and medium-sized businesses. Optimising IT is changing that narrative. We provide complete management and support for IT and cloud services and make cybersecurity a priority. Whether you outsource your cyber security services or manage them in-house, an audit of their effectiveness should always be regularly performed. If the statistics mentioned above don’t convince you of this fact, this article will present two more reasons why. Explaining them will require the bulk of the information below, but they can be summed up as identifying vulnerabilities and implementing solutions that only an unbiased third party can discover.
What Is A Cyber Security Audit?
As all UK cyber security companies will tell you, an audit is more than just a risk assessment. The risk is high and small businesses are in harm’s way even if they are only used as a stepping stone by hackers to reach a bigger target. The terms audit and assessment are sometimes used interchangeably by cyber security consultancy firms, but an audit looks at the bigger picture. Gaps in cyber security infrastructure are identified and solutions enacted. An audit will also evaluate compliance with existing regulations – essential if your business contracts with the government.
The Cloud is where businesses either have or will eventually move their infrastructure. Cyber security audits are also highly effective at monitoring the state of preparedness as an organisation grows and becomes more complex. Because cloud computing platforms like G-Cloud 12, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and others are favoured for ease of scalability, cyber security auditing today is much more effective and efficient for almost every organisation. At Optimising IT, you can streamline the audit process through our fully-managed cyber security services.
We approach it – and how most professional UK cyber security companies do so – by structuring it with a checklist to validate an organisation’s security policies and procedures to assess their posture. The checklist will ensure that proper security mechanisms are there and functional. We also check that they align with relevant compliance standards, regulations, or laws. A checklist will also help to improve your security posture by assessing where more dynamic threat management strategies can be made. With the speed of innovations made by hackers today, threat management strategies benefit significantly by being as dynamic as possible.
All the best UK cyber security companies have adopted the checklist known as Cyber Essentials. Cyber Essentials is the guidance issued by the National Cyber Security Centre and is best situated to safeguard your organisation – no matter its size – from cyber attacks and hackers. This government-issued scheme is designed to ensure all security elements of your business’s IT system has the foundations necessary for solid protection.
Optimising IT cyber security consultancy and auditing ensures that any gaps in your preparedness and systems are identified, assessed, and filled with proactive solutions against cyber attacks. This government-backed checklist provides assessment criteria designed to:
- Identify, evaluate, and fix any vulnerabilities in your systems
- Provide robust defence against most of the forms of cyber attacks that strike businesses in the UK today
- And verify that your business’s security posture is adequate and meets the standards set by the National Cyber Security Centre.
Hiring third-party UK cyber security companies can only do a thorough audit. An outside vendor will have no bias or conflict of interest, and you will want to ensure no stone goes unturned or ideas are disregarded in today’s threat environment. An in-house team can be used for auditing if they are an independent department. However, this can be cost-prohibitive for the average small to medium-sized business.
Optimising IT is there with you whether you hire us to fully manage your IT and cloud systems or as a one-off service for cyber security consultancy. Our auditing practices are designed and performed with effectiveness and our clients’ peace of mind at its core.
- You should be concerned about potential data breaches
- There is a strong case for being worried about cyber threats and attacks
- For the average business, there are gaps in security that bad actors can take advantage of
We are here to help alleviate that stress and put your cyber security in a better posture. Our comprehensive cyber security audit touches on all the essentials and is based on ISO27001 principles.
What Is An ISO27001 Cyber Security Audit?
The ISO27001 is recognised internationally as the most effective management and maintenance solution for cyber security systems. The Gold Standard is taught throughout the industry, from cyber security training courses to services implementation and operation. It is also the standard that must be met to comply with GDPR law. Our auditing can help ensure your cyber security services and business are aligned with ISO27001.
- ISO27001 is the best standard to achieve for increasing your system’s resilience against cyber threats
- It ensures that your sensitive data (as well as your customers’) are as protected and conserved as possible.
- ISO27001 will put your business in compliance with the most important UK cyber security regulations
What To Expect From Your Cyber Security Audit With Optimising IT
As the statistics have shown earlier in this article, realising the threats and that your business is vulnerable to cyber attacks puts you ahead of most organisations. An excellent next step is to seek either cyber security training courses for your in-house team or dedicated cyber security services from a company like Optimising IT. With Optimising IT, you will receive effective solutions and peace of mind knowing that you have partnered with one of the field’s best UK cyber security companies. The journey to best-in-class cyber security begins with knowing what condition your current posture is in.
Optimising IT and our cyber security services will inform you of your most significant risk factors and what steps come next to reduce those risks. Following the best practices toward achieving industry standards, we provide you with a real-world view of how far you have to go by partnering with us. You can get there much faster and at a reduced cost than most other UK cyber security companies. Our cyber security training courses, advice, and/or management will lead you to a path that best safeguards your business from the growing threat environment.
Meet The Specialist Who Will Be Performing Your Cyber Security Audit
The Optimising IT auditing team has over 100 years of combined experience in IT security. One of these specialists will be running a cyber security audit for your company. No matter who it is, you should know that they are highly trained and qualified to perform a comprehensive and empowering cyber security audit that will put you on the same playing field as the most secure systems in the UK. Your IT security consultant will spend up to an entire day on your business premise auditing all of the critical areas necessary to secure your IT systems, including:
- Security governance
- Network safety
- Systems security.
Optimising IT is always transparent with our processes, providing answers and accepting feedback from our clients. You can expect our cyber security consultancy and auditing specialist to perform a scan of your entire internal IT structure to locate all vulnerabilities and security issues. This scan will often uncover things like configuration issues, security updates that are absent or lacking, and other common problems.
One of the reasons why we welcome your feedback is to pay attention to and address the cyber security concerns you feel are most serious. This allows us to build a solution framework that provides more dynamic protection. Nothing about cyber security services should be viewed as having a one-size-fits-all solution. Every business has its own nuances, issues, and needs. Your cyber security expert from Optimising IT will view your audit as an utterly unique task and find solutions from many years of experience. Our goal is always to provide a security audit tailored to your individual needs.
What Can Happen If A Cyber Security Audit Isn’t Done?
Not performing a cyber security audit puts you and your customers at risk. Cybercriminals use various methods to breach your systems and different motivations behind their attacks. It’s not always for financial gain. Hackers often perform their dirty deeds for political reasons or no apparent reason. One of the reasons why small businesses need to be extra vigilant about cyber security is because they are sometimes used as an access point to larger systems. In 2014, the popular retail chain Target was hacked via an HVAC refrigeration subcontractor they hired.
When cyber security training courses discuss ‘sophistication’ in the methods cyber criminals employ, it’s not always special equipment or the latest technological innovations that are implied. One of the most common methods hackers use to gain entry into your sensitive data is through email. They know how to word a header or subject line to fool unsuspecting employees into believing a harmful link was shared by management. Remote workers and their devices, too, are commonly targeted because of inadequate security practices and vulnerabilities.
Ensuring your systems are secure is most obviously associated with protecting a business’s finances, but money is by no means the only thing they stand to lose. If customers’ banking and personal information are compromised, that business loses extrinsic value in the form of reputation and trust. This can take years to repair and may cause a small or medium-sized business to go under altogether.
Don’t Wait. Contact Optimising IT Today And Ensure Your Systems Are Protected With A Cyber Security Audit.
The threat is accurate, and the risk is high that your business will be a victim of a cyber attack sooner than later. Gain protection and peace of mind with an audit through UK’s best cyber security and IT management company at optimisingit.co.uk.
