UK firms must consider a prevent-first approach to cybersecurity
Check Point Research (CPR) has urged firms in the UK to take a “prevent-first approach” to cybersecurity amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
According to CPR, organisations in the UK are experiencing an average of 561 attacks per week, with the most impacted industry found to be education/research with 1,917 weekly cyber-attacks.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the UK Financial Watchdog have warned companies in Britain to be aware of a heightened threat of cyber-attack.
The group suggested firms review their cyber-defences as the risk of attacks continues to increase, especially with the proliferation of fifth generation (Gen V) attacks, which many companies are not set up to deal with.
Gen V attacks are unique in the way that they leverage broad attack surfaces and multiple infection vectors to infiltrate large numbers of organisations. However, it is possible to prevent them from reaching your network, CPR said.
CPR commented that remote workforces have already driven a surge in cyber-attacks, with the risk continuing to grow.
With the cyber-threat landscape continually evolving, CPR has urged modern organisations to re-calibrate their approach and consider a prevent-first approach to cybersecurity.
They need to do this around three main areas: securing their corporate networks and data centres, securing cloud environments and lastly, securing employees – wherever they are.
Achieving complete protection across the expanded attack surface requires solutions that are easy to deploy and manage, while eliminating patchwork security architectures and high TCO with integration and interoperability.
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Commenting on the news, Ian Porteous, Regional Director, Security Engineering, UK&I at Check Point said: “While I will always support renewed warnings for companies to bolster their cyber-defences, I would urge all organisations to go one step further and prioritise prevention rather than detection.
“It is possible to be proactive with cybersecurity, the technology exists to prevent even unknown threats from entering the corporate network. User education is important too.
“Even taking simple actions can help, such as ensuring that employees are mindful of some basic checks they can do themselves, such as ensuring an email address is authentic, looking out for any misspellings in emails and not opening attachments or clicking links unless they are certain that the email is safe.”
CPR has been analysing cyber-activities surrounding the war in Ukraine and, in the first three days of combat, documented a 196% increase in cyber-attacks targeting the Ukrainian government and military sector.
The company added that Telegram has become a “huge digital ally” in the conflict and has also discredited various forms of fake news that have been spreading fast.
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