13 Scary Cyber Security Facts

It may be Halloween, but there is nothing scarier to us than the rate of cybercrime.

So as we come to the end of Cyber Security Awareness Month, we bring you our spookiest facts about cyber security. These facts will have you hiding under your desk, wishing we had told you a ghost story instead! Don't worry; we have one of those too!

Scary Fact #1

78% of senior IT professionals believe that UK businesses are not prepared for cyberattacks*.

Scary Fact #2

Every week, over 18 million websites are infected with malware.

Scary Fact #3

34% of IT professionals admit to using the same password more than once at work.*

Scary Fact #4

Around a quarter of businesses that reported an attack experience breaches or attacks at least once a week. **

Scary Fact #5

One in five businesses that experienced an attack in 2020 lost money, data or assets.**

Scary Fact #6

36% of IT Professionals have kept a cybersecurity attack or breach affecting their organisation to themselves.*

Scary Fact #7

32% of IT leaders use weak passwords for sensitive accounts, including credentials such as 'password' or 'admin'*

Scary Fact #8

The average cost of a cyber security breach is estimated to be £8,460. For medium and large firms combined, this average cost is higher, at £13,400.**

Scary Fact #9

Overwhelmingly, businesses (84%) and charities (80%) say COVID-19 has made no change to the importance they place on cyber security. **

Scary Fact #10

A third (34%) of UK companies have experienced severe disruptions, resulting in their inability to carry out business operations.*

Scary Fact #11

58% of IT professionals agree that employees do not understand the full consequences of using weak passwords*

Scary Fact #12

92% of organisations are aware of gaps in their cybersecurity defences, but less than half are actively addressing all of them.*

Scary Fact #13

Only 15% of businesses carry out cyber security vulnerability audits **

A GHOST STORY

One of the scariest forms of ransomware is known as the 'Ghost'. It is the name of a ransomware-type program designed to encrypt and rename data. All files affected by Ghost are rendered entirely inaccessible. As with all ransom type attacks, victims are then asked to pay (usually in crypto-currency) to recover their data.

If our 13 spooky facts have given you the heebie-jeebies, why not speak to our team of experts who can put your business on the road to robust and resilient Cyber Security! Fill out a form on our website, give us a call on 03332401824, or email sales@soconnect.co.uk.

* Keeper (2021), UK Cybersecurity Census Report

** UK Government (2021),Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2021