Posted on July 27, 2020

The UK is one of the top targets for cyberattacks

According to a report from Specops Software, the UK is the second most targeted country when it comes to cyberattacks. From May 2006 to June 2020, the UK was on the end of 47 “significant” cyberattacks.

A cyberattack classed as “significant” is defined as one targeting a country’s government agencies, defence and high-tech companies. It also includes economic crimes with losses of a million dollars or more. One recent example took place during the 2019 UK general election; the Labour Party’s digital platforms were victim to a large-scale cyberattack.

The only other country ahead of the UK in significant cyberattacks is the USA. Specops Software found that the United States of America has experienced the most significant cyber-attacks, totalling 156 between the period of May 2006 and June 2020. In this time frame, 2018 was the worst year for cyber-attacks, with 30 incidents alone occurring throughout the year.

According to Specop Software, the techniques most commonly used to cause significant cyberattacks are:

• Denial of Service Attack (Dos)
  A DoS attack occurs when a cybercriminal makes a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by overwhelming it with requests until normal traffic cannot be processed normally.
• SQL Injection Attack
  An SQL injection is a malicious SQL code inserted by cybercriminals into a database to access sensitive information that was never intended to be displayed.
• A man-in-the-middle (MitM)
  A MitM attack happens when a cybercriminal intercepts communication between two parties through a range of online avenues such as email, social media and web browsing.
• Phishing Attack
  Phishing is a cyber-attack practice where cybercriminals send emails that appear to be from trusted entities but are in fact a fraudulent attempt to gain authentication details from victims such as login credentials, payment information, and personal address.

The coronavirus outbreak has also proved lucrative for cybercriminals, with malware, ransomware and crypto-miner attacks widespread during the first quarter of 2020. According to a new report from security firm McAfee, they have seen an average of 375 new threats every minute, with total attack volume growing 27% per cent over the past four quarters.

In this more vulnerable digital world, what can your business do to ensure you remain secure in times of heightened threat?

There are three key actions businesses in both the private and public sector should take; keep cybersecurity solutions and operating systems up to date, provide cybersecurity guidance to employees, asses IT ecosystems.

Securing your applications whilst still maintaining 100% access is critical to meeting the demand of your business and customers. Our tailored solutions can work seamlessly with Pulse360 to constantly monitor for cyberthreats and help you take the necessary actions against them, allowing you to meet your business goals and objectives whilst complying with the latest regulatory and legal requirements.

At SIRE, we have partnered with Centrify because they focus on cybersecurity solutions that aid user security as well as the outside threats, whilst providing information for compliance and audit purposes. To find out how SIRE can help with your organisation’s cybersecurity, talk to us on 01344 758700 or email us on sales@sire.co.uk.