Businesses in East urged not to be complacent about cyber security
94% of firms in the region are confident or very confident they would recover from a cyber-attack quickly
Companies in the East of England are being urged not to be complacent about cyber security.
Research commissioned by 6clicks, a risk and compliance firm, found 94% of businesses in the region were confident or very confident they would recover from a cyber-attack quickly.
Cyber Security Director, Haroon Malik, said: "A lot of the companies that I used to consult with, they were very confident that they could deal with a cyber-attack until it actually happened on the day, and it was a disaster.
"A lot of people that respond to that particular question, maybe there is an element of complacency assuming they have the best IT team.
"Until you have actually tested your defences and cyber-attacked yourself, you don't actually know that you would be able to deal with an attack on the day."
According to the same research, cyber security (48%) and cyber resilience (45%) are the top two priorities for businesses when considering future growth, followed in third by a stable economy (37%) in the UK.
Haroon thinks companies shouldn't rely purely on technology to protect them from attacks though, with awareness believed to be just as important.
He continued: "They cyber-attacks all start with a person, the user. The user clicked on something, the user downloaded something, that's where we need to stop it.
"You need a mixture of looking at your people and how they're trained, processes to understand what you would do in the event of a cyber-attack, and then you need the technology bit at the end."
As a result of the pandemic people are relying on the internet more than usual, from working from home to ordering items or supplies.
He added: "Attackers also know the whole world is moving online, so they're obviously taking advantage of people's lack of awareness on cyber, sending more phishing links so they can go to a fictitious website and enter their personal details.
"We're doing more and more things online and this cyber security behaviour is going to vitally important going forward.
"If you don't have the right behaviours in place or the right awareness, the technology doesn't matter, it all starts with the human."
Mr Malik thinks it's important people are aware it's not just big businesses hackers are likely to attack, as smaller firms are targets too.