New research has warned that over half of UK businesses don’t know how to be more proactive about cybersecurity.

According to cybersecurity experts Kaspersky, 64% of business decision makers would like to be more proactive and strengthen their cybersecurity measures but do not know how to do so.

The findings come as the cybersecurity threat landscape becomes increasingly dangerous. With ransomware attacks surging last year, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) maturing and supply chain attacks hitting thousands of organisations at once, many are now aware of the importance of robust cybersecurity

Kaspersky also revealed a number of uncertainties facing UK business decision makers in tackling the growing cyber threat landscape.

The company found that 60% of UK business decision makers in SMBs and enterprises are concerned about a lack of support within their organisations to prevent cybersecurity incidents, and 57% struggle to get funding for cybersecurity improvements.

Furthermore, 68% of UK businesses admit being concerned about suffering a cyberattack. When it comes to the types of cyberattacks businesses encounter, 65% of people cited email phishing attacks, 68% ransomware, and 68% said malware attacks are the top threats that decision makers fear, not forgetting the concern of the risk that insider threats can bring to the business.

With Kaspersky research revealing that 82% of UK businesses have already suffered a cyberattack, the company that companies must strengthen their cyber protection and implement a solid cybersecurity strategy that spans an entire organisation.

C-level management will need to align their IT department or Security Operation Centre (SOC) with all other departments – from HR to marketing and sales – to guide their company towards a safer future.

This requires implementing a security operations centre (SOC) at enterprise level and – especially for smaller companies lacking internal resources – adding on an external threat intelligence layer or Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) integration.

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“Companies should (and can) do much more to protect themselves, amid the increasing threats they are facing,” says Chris Hurst, General Manager of Kaspersky UK&I.

“For example, their cybersecurity strategy should be implemented in a top-down model, as investing in IT security will result in a significant return on security investment for the future.

“Companies need to be more proactive than ever, protecting both their digital and physical assets. Basic IT security tactics and tools, such as endpoint protection, are not enough. But by combining a comprehensive security solution that automatically detects and blocks cyber threats with human, outsourced expertise, IT teams can focus on their core tasks again.”

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