Probrand, the platform for IT, has released a study that reveals some of the biggest unseen cyber threats facing businesses today, with many organisations failing to adequately protect themselves.
The 2023 Cyber Risk Report includes a study of 100 IT decision makers in Midlands-based organisations, exploring their current approach to security and the measures they have in place to protect people, devices and data.
Despite nearly one in three companies falling victim to an attack, many are failing to prioritise cyber security defences. For example, when asked how security settings are currently enabled and applied within their organisation, more than two thirds (78%) of respondents said they did not know.
64% of businesses said that access to their company network is only protected by a simple username and password. Only 36% have multi-factor authentication in place, which forces users to pass through multiple login steps and enter more information than just a password.
The report also indicates that businesses are failing to help mitigate the chance of employees accidentally clicking through to dangerous and malicious websites, with 62% saying they do not have critical endpoint web filtering in place.
As well as assessing their capabilities in mitigating threats, Probrand also looked at how well businesses could recover from an attack. Four in five (81%) were not confident that they had a robust, up-to-date backup and recovery plan in place. Without this, vital data and critical systems may be lost forever, forcing businesses to cease operating altogether.
"Despite the rise in successful attacks, our research indicates that businesses are still being complacent with cyber security," said Richard Nelson, senior technical architect at Probrand. ‘‘While we can see that there is a lot of room for improvement, the good news is there are some simple steps that businesses can take today to stay safe and get ahead of the threats. By looking at areas such as multi-factor authentication, backup and recovery strategies and endpoint security, organisations can take a proactive approach and reduce the risk of financial loss from an attack.”
The report can be downloaded in full here:
https://marketplace.probrand.co.uk/resources/reports-and-guides/cyber-risk-report-2023-access