These days stories of fraud and Cybercrimes are common items on the news for both businesses and individuals. SME’s need to be more alert of the types of crimes and ensure that they have robust internal controls set up to combat any attacks. Signs are cybercrime is becoming more sophisticated and fraudsters are repeat offenders.
What is a Cyber Attack?
The term “cyber-attack” refers to many different scenarios but basically it is an intention to compromise the internal IT and other systems within a business causing harm and, in many cases, leading to substantial financial loss.
How are Cyber Attacks carried out?
Many attacks are opportunistic with hackers spotting vulnerabilities in the computer systems. “Phishing” is also a common way to get access to a system basically extracting information under a false pretence.
In a recent KPMG Fraud Barometer report which records fraud case in the UK courts with a value of £100K and over, KPMG found the number of cases in which commercialisation of cybercrime had been a factor is growing with criminals advertising their services on the dark web.
What can be done to minimise the risks?
The key to prevention is to evaluate your systems and follow best practice. For example, regularly changing your passwords and not using the same one for multiple accounts. Similarly, familiarising yourself with how fraudsters may try to “phish” for information from your organisation and being mindful of how these requests would arrive.
To assist our clients, Myers Clark is holding an educational event together with a cybercrime expert from Lloyds Bank on Wednesday 18th September. Details of the event and the opportunity to book for the last few remaining tickets can be found under events on our website www.myersclark.co.uk.