Cyber attacks on UK businesses peaked at 46% during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to market research firm Ipsos.

Though the number has stabilised to around 39% of businesses reporting an attack over the past two years, that’s still too high by any calculation, especially when you consider only 19% of organisations have a formal incident response plan. And only a third have staff assigned to tackle an attack, if it occurs.

These are worrying findings, given the cost of cybersecurity breaches for organisations in the UK. Statista found while the average is £1,200, that rises to over £8,000 for medium and large businesses. These numbers don’t take into account the additional and longer-term costs such as the impact on reputation or time spent managing the attack – all of which can quickly add up.

It is vital businesses prioritise cybersecurity. Research by tech company Deazy found more than a third (36%) of CTOs now consider managing data privacy issues is the main remit of tech leaders and 52% say cybersecurity and vulnerabilities are their biggest concern.

Testing your cyber limits

Strengthening digital security must include regular cyber exercising or testing an organisation’s own response to an attack. As any cybersecurity professional will admit, it’s not a question of “if” an attack will take place, but “when.” In other words, no organisation is immune.

Exercise in a Box is an ideal way for organisations to safely test their defences in the face of an attack without putting any data at risk. These free, practical workshops simulate real-life scenarios such as what to do in the case of a data leak, a ransomware attack, an attack along the digital supply chain, and understanding how to maintain security while working from home.

Workshops give participants the opportunity to further their cyber knowledge and identify areas of improvement in their own organisations’ IT defences over the course of a 90-minute session.

Over the past two years, 1,954 individuals from 568 Scottish organisations across the public, private, and third sectors have attended at least one workshop, and safely tested their response to a cyber attack.

Limit the effect of an attack

When an attack happens, things often move quickly and snap decisions need to be made. Any hesitation or wrong choice, and there is a risk of irreparable harm to any business and its reputation.

Putting in the work beforehand will limit the fallout of an attack: in this case, practice can make perfect and, while there’s no 100% successful response to a cyber attack, training and preparation will improve your outcome and reduce hesitation.

Bettering the organisation through cyber exercising

But cyber exercising isn’t just about testing your cyber defences and bettering your reaction. It creates a culture of learning within the team and provides an opportunity for individuals to understand how they might react during a future incident and clarify actual versus perceived capabilities.

It can also show where it might be worth for an organisation to invest money, such as in training or specific technologies.

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Cyber exercises such as Exercise in a Box allow businesses to develop their own cyber resilience strategy. This is a step beyond a cybersecurity strategy, showing how to respond and recover from an attack with minimal impact on business operations.

It’s unlikely cyber attacks will go away any time soon; in fact, in turbulent times – such as a cost-of-living crisis – it is likely they will increase as cyber criminals seek to make more money wherever they can.

Organisations that are proactive about reducing the fallout will come out on top.

DIGIT Expo 2022 | Join the Conversation

DIGIT Expo is Scotland’s largest gathering of senior technology personnel and an unmissable opportunity for knowledge exchange, networking and business opportunity.

The conference will feature an array of tech leaders, innovators and world-class speakers exploring key themes such as AI, DevOps, cyber security, digital leadership, cloud computing, Web3 and data innovation.

Find out more at: www.digit-expo.com