Decoding Online Social Engineering: Revealing Tactics and Strengthening Defences
If you are a decision-maker within a business, you must be aware of the risks that social engineering can pose to your organisation...
Having experienced 2 years of Digital Transformation in the space of 2 months during lockdown, our IT environments have been subject to a lot of change over the last year and a half. Now is the time to review your business's IT Security and ensure its suitability for your new working arrangements.
Published on
10th September 2021
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As lockdown restrictions have lifted, businesses are now able to return to their pre-covid working arrangements and get back to office based working. Despite this, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s recent poll of 520 businesses found that over 80% of all businesses that can work from home will continue allowing their employees to work from home at least one day a week, whilst nearly half (46%) of all businesses will expect employees to work from home between 4-5 days per week. Having recognised the benefits of remote working, such as operational cost savings, flexible working and increased productivity, it is hard to see how remote working will not form part of the long term working arrangements for businesses - especially those in London, often paying high rents in locations that staff will need to commute to.
Digital transformation
The transition to home working has been much smoother for those businesses using cloud-based services than for those operating exclusive on-premise IT environments that rely on older and slower technologies. The pandemic has prompted a faster adoption of cloud solutions for many organisations who have understood the benefit to these new ways of working - so much so that during the early stages of the Covid-19 restrictions Microsoft confirmed that they had seen two years of digital transformation in 2 months.
Decision making around digital transformation has shifted dramatically, with businesses now focusing on the immediate need - ensuring their technology will enable them to maintain productivity remotely, collaborate, access and back up securely whilst out of the office – features which have been invaluable to the survival of many businesses over the last year and a half.
IT Security
Whilst busy IT teams and IT Managed Services Providers (MSPs) have been migrating services to the cloud in this period, the importance of a businesses’ IT security strategy remains a priority and should not lose focus.
The sudden shift to remote working and the adoption of cloud services resulted in many businesses only focusing on cyber security within the immediate short-term basis. This, together with the sudden shift in working practices, behaviours and the adoption of new tools hasn’t been ignored by cybercriminals.
In the UK, a 31% increase in cases of IT security breaches during the height of the pandemic was reported, with businesses having lost over £6.2 million to different types of cybercrime. And, despite the rapid development of technology during the pandemic, cybercriminals have developed a range of cyber techniques to target businesses and these continue to threaten the success of many cyber security strategies. In response to this, companies providing IT support services in London and throughout the UK recommend a multi-layered approach to cyber security, covering not only protection and detection but staff training and business continuity as well.
With over 1 million UK businesses operating from London it is no surprise that a number of these have been amongst those to have fallen victim to cybercrime. Furthermore, it has been found that FTSE 250 companies, many of which are operating their IT systems within London, use an average of 35 business systems that are exposed to the internet. The need for businesses to secure their IT services and systems is greater than ever, and with the help of a reliable and forward-thinking MSP, businesses can ensure their IT infrastructures are as secure as they can be and less susceptible to a security breach, whilst also ensuring they are in a strong position to recover with a solid disaster recovery plan should the unthinkable happen.
How We Can Help
ITRM’s IT Security Consultants have over 20 years of experience. Ranked #7 in the UK in this year’s MSP 501 and recognised as a Microsoft Gold Partner, the team are well equipped with the skills and expertise to ensure that your business is protected against cyber-attacks.
Contact one of our Consultants today to discuss your cyber security requirements.
