Four in 10 Scottish firms are not prepared for a cyber attack

Nearly four out of 10 (38%) Scottish businesses do not feel prepared for a cyber attack, according to new research.

This comes despite two thirds of businesses believing that the impact of a cyber attack has become more important for their business over the past year.

The findings come one year after the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) relaunched Cyber Essentials, a government-backed scheme to help organisations become better protected against cyber attacks.

Businesses which become Cyber Essentials-certified can prevent or limit the fallout from up to 80% of common cyber attacks, increasing trust among their customers, according to the centre.

More than 250 Scottish businesses were surveyed as part of the Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC) commissioned research. Of those, 78% were aware of Cyber Essentials, but just more than half (54%) were aware of the benefits it can bring to an organisation.

Participation in the scheme can also impact business opportunities - some UK government contracts now require the certification and other organisations may prefer to work with certified companies.

As a result, 37% of businesses whose company is not Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus certified believed that they have lost out on business as a result.

SBRC chief executive Jude McCorry said: “We’ve seen the number of cyber attacks rise over the past year, and a change in the type of attack as cyber criminals seek to take advantage of our increased reliance on technology while working remotely.

“It’s not a case of ‘if’ your systems will be attacked, but ‘when’ so it’s vital that business owners go on the offensive and prepare themselves – particularly as the majority of attacks are basic in nature and can be prevented.

“Learning that so many businesses aren’t confident in how they can prevent attacks is cause for concern.

She continued: “Cyber Essentials is a simple way for business owners to become more aware of their cyber processes and accreditation demonstrates to their customers and suppliers that they take their cyber resilience seriously.

“Improving your cyber defences could mean the difference between your company surviving a cyber attack or losing all your systems and data.”

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