When a cyber attack halts production at the UK's biggest car manufacturer for weeks, now almost months, it's a huge wakeup call to digital risks. Jaguar Land Rover's ongoing production outage has disrupted factories, retailers and suppliers proving that just one breach can ripple through an entire supply chain and stop real-world operations in their tracks.
Public institutions haven’t been spared either. The British Library’s ransomware attack started with a single weak control, with hackers breaking through the library’s virtual private network that allowed employees to access its network from any location. This spiralled into the possession of stolen data, like employees’ passport scans and work contracts and led to months of disruption and costly recovery work. The Library and the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) later published lessons so others could avoid the same mistakes.?
For senior leaders across further and higher education, local and mayoral authorities, councils, public bodies and professional services, this is not a new issue. Your website is often your most visible service and when it’s left neglected it becomes a convenient backdoor into all your more sensitive digital systems.
Even the celebs aren’t safe! Jeremy Clarkson’s pub The Farmer’s Dog was subject to a cyber attack, with £27,000 being stolen through his accounting systems. The hackers went unnoticed at first as there were no obvious signs on how they got in. This example highlights just how important good cyber security procedures are. No one is safe from a cyber attack, whether you’re a public figure or small business owner just starting up.
Security isn’t something you set up once and forget about, it can’t just be left to run, it needs constant care. That means updates are scheduled, not left to chance. Backups aren’t just stored, they’re tested rigorously to make sure they actually work. Monitoring and maintaining your security should become part of your routine, making it an ongoing process.
If you’re not sure about your websites security systems or want to talk about maintaining your site get in touch at hello@phoneticdigital.co.uk