Cyber Security

26th Feb , 2016

Information that is processed stored and communicated electronically is subject to a wide range of constantly evolving security breaches, hence the need for Cyber Security and keeping it up to date.

Cyber infiltration affects individuals and businesses in all demographics and industries and sadly many are falling victim to increasingly sophisticated scams, frauds and hacking.

Children and their parents are constantly reminded to be alert to online predators and inappropriate information.  Senior citizens, currently the fastest growing group of Internet users, are targets for cyber criminals and their insidious scams, sometimes robbing their victims of their life savings.

Businesses in both the private and public sector are also vulnerable to cyber criminals wanting to access an array of sensitive information including critical infrastructure, systems, networks, personal information, financial information, and security.

From a business perspective, cyber security is a major issue, effecting our nations security, government departments, big business, and SME’s down to micro businesses.  Unfortunately, no one is exempt.

Keeping ahead of the cyber bad guys – the hackers, organised criminal networks, industrial spies and foreign intelligence services who are out to compromise, steal, change and destroy information, and cause disruption to the running and profitability of any organisation is an ongoing challenge requiring technical experts and considerable financial investment to combat.

Businesses need to assess the implications and security risks of data storage both on and off site e.g. such as ‘the cloud’.  In particular, Boards and Senior Management teams need to constantly assess and review their policies on the use of individual’s mobile devices brought into the workplace or used to process the business’s information.  Notebooks, Tables and Mobile phones are all potentially at risk from hacking.

Cyber Security then is a critical component of any organisation’s risk assessment and warrants regular review to ensure that you are not unnecessarily exposed to this potentially serious risk area.

Christine Cartney