WHAT THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC TEACHES US ABOUT CYBER SECURITY

Covid-19 has shown us all how vulnerable the world is to major disruption from pandemics, cyber attacks and environmental tipping points.

But if the UK wasn’t taking this seriously enough, the World Economic Forum is urging us all to prepare to avert a cyber pandemic, which it says has the potential to upend our lives even more than the current Coronavirus.

Writing ahead of the World Economic Forum virtual Davos meeting, which was held in January, Ravi Kumar S, the president of global IT services company Infosys, and Vishal Salvi, the company’s Chief Information Security Officer and Head of Cyber Security Practice, said: “As we scale up our response to the crisis, through largely digital means, our interconnectedness grows exponentially. And with it our vulnerability to the risk exposures of the virtual world. In fact, businesses of the future are evolving to be more digital and more shared. The need to prepare to avert a cyber pandemic – with potential even more than the coronavirus to upend our lives – has never been more urgent.”

And they take the doomsday scenario even further: “For a moment, let’s think of the unthinkable. A world without phones and internet, with idling trucks, trains and planes because fuel pumps and charging stations are incapacitated; banks shuttered; food supply chains broken and emergency services made all but unavailable. This bleak vision would be inevitable if electricity supplies are cut off by a cyber attack.”

Britain is doing its bit. Last November, Boris Johnson announced a new National Cyber Force. The NCF draws together personnel from intelligence, cyber and security agency GCHQ, the MOD, the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) under one unified command for the first time.

At its launch, Jeremy Fleming, Director at GCHQ said: “For over a century, GCHQ has worked to keep the UK safe. Cyber security has become an integral part of this mission as we strive to make

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the UK the safest place to live and do business online. We are a world-leading cyber power.

“The National Cyber Force builds out from that position of defensive strength.

“It brings together intelligence and defence capabilities to transform the UK’s ability to contest adversaries in cyber space, to protect the country, its people and our way of life.”

There’s a lot going on at national level, but what can businesses do to protect themselves? Gloucester-based Fasthosts offers some practical advice.

01 Limit user access and restrict admin privileges

One of the simplest ways of ensuring cyber security is by limiting those who can access sensitive information.

A hierarchal structure means that only those who require access to personal, password and payment data have the permissions to do so.

02 Abide by best-practice security standards

Protecting customer data is paramount and it’s vitally important to adhere to universal security standards and attain relevant certification.

03 Constantly monitor user activity

Establishing a system that allows you to monitor activity and quickly respond to suspicious behaviour is one of the more effective means of maintaining cyber security.

04 Encouraging a strong password is crucial

It doesn’t matter how complex or sophisticated your security software is; if a user or customer is using a weak or simple password, your system is left wide open for hackers to infiltrate.

Passwords that are most easily guessed often include predictable sequences or personal details such as names, birthdays, place names or popular sports teams.

05 Implement two-factor authentication

Take password protection one step further with two-factor authentication.

Even if an unwelcome presence manages to crack a user’s password, the attempted intrusion is made very difficult with the addition of a secondary protective layer.