This year in June, Dixons Carphone announced that a major data breach had occurred, estimating that 1.2 million customers were affected by the hack. This number has now risen to 10 million customers’ who may have had their personal information hacked, including their names, addresses, and email addresses.

Dixons Carphone announced that no bank details were taken, however, 5.9 million payment cards were accessed, although the majority were protected by chip and pin.   

The company has expressed regret for any distress caused by the hack, stating they would be apologising to the customers affected in due time. Dixons Carphone chief executive, Alex Baldock advised that they are working with the top cyber security experts, in order to improve security measures, which has involved:

As cybercrime continues to rise affecting several large organisations who have had their personal data accessed or stolen, it is now vital that everyone considers and evaluates the best cybersecurity solutions to protect their business.

Recently, both small and medium organisations have been urged by the Business Fraud Prevention Partnership (BFPP) to seriously consider protection against cyber-crime. The founder of the BFPP, Edward Whittingham discussed misconceptions regarding cyber-crime, stating:

October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, which means organisations should be considering their current cybersecurity measures in an effort to prevent data breaches and cyber threats. The need to improve cybersecurity has also been amplified since results from the Cyber Security Breach Survey 2018 established that 43% of businesses have suffered a data breach in the last 12 months.

Small businesses especially should be evaluating their cybersecurity measures, as according to research from security firm Sitelock, smaller organisations are actually more at risk of a website hack, mainly due to their lack of cybersecurity and website maintenance.

Laura Dodge, Marketing Manager at Pedalo, the web development agency discussed the indispensability of implementing cybersecurity and website maintenance, stating:

Experts believe that the greatest threat to an organisation is not its lack of cybersecurity, it is actually the employees who tend to cause the most damage.

This comes after 77% of survey respondents indicated that regardless of training and adherence to company policies, it is actually employees that are the main source of cyber-attacks, as they may be unaware of the warning signs. Therefore, it is vital that companies improve cybersecurity training by implementing ways for staff to protect, as well as how to conduct themselves online, especially on social media.

As social media is an integral part of engagement - and with that comes an inherent level of trust - meaning it is vital that everybody is aware of what is safe when positing content. This is particularly the case for employees who are responding to their customers, as they must be aware of online actors who utilise fake accounts in order to pose as customers and purposely target staff and the organisation.

According to research from the professional services firm KPMG, 39% of UK-based CEOs are convinced that a cyber-attack is inevitable, and on a global scale nearly half of CEOs agreed with this statement. KPMG surveyed 1200 CEOs from around the world, including 150 leaders from the UK, where they were asked to discuss company challenges and future plans.

In order to protect organisations against cyber-attacks, UK CEOS discussed how a durable strategy for their cyber security is essential, as according to 74% of UK leaders, cyber security is a trust enabler. Although only 39% believe they are “very well” equipped for when a cyber-attack does occur.  

KPMG’s UK vice chair, Bernard Brown discussed how:

In a recent security report, which analysed 850 cyber-crimes against UK universities and colleges from 2017 to 2018, there was clear evidence to show that the cyber-attacks were often committed by disgruntled students or staff members within these organisations.

The report was conducted by the government-funded agency, Jisc,who discovered that the crimes were not being committed by professional hackers or organized crime groups, but instead the perpetrators were much closer to home.  This conclusion was made due to the attacks showing “clear patterns” of activity during term times, whilst attacks were reduced during holiday periods.

Dr John Chapman, the head of security operations at Jisc, who assists with providing technology services to the higher and further education field, stated: