Cyber security is one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK – with a national cyber centre planned for the North-West of England in 2024 as part of a region-wide cyber corridor.

While that’s good news for employment opportunities in the wider NorthWest region it should make all businesses sit up and take notice.

The reason why it’s such a growing sector is because of the increasing threat from cyber criminals.

SMEs, which make up the majority of the business eco-system across Cumbria, are a prime target.

That’s because smaller businesses often lack the cybersecurity technologies and resources required to combat today’s advanced threats.

If you are running an SME in Cumbria, or you are responsible for systems in your business, you really need to be thinking now, if you are not already, about how you are going to tackle this threat.

As cyber threats grow in both volume and complexity, many SMEs are turning to Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services for protection against advanced attacks that technology alone cannot prevent.

You will probably have heard a lot in the news about Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT and other similar technologies.

Some of these types of technologies can also be used by cyber criminals as they are now able to use AI themselves to create more sophisticated scams, producing engaging, convincing and grammatically correct phishing emails.

"The only way to reliably detect and neutralise determined cyber attackers is with on-screen vigilance 24 hours a day, seven days a week"

- Stephen Whelan

While you may have been able to spot such a suspicious email in the past because of the poor grammar or language used, now you are likely to find it more difficult.

With even IT professionals finding cyber security becoming increasingly complicated, expensive and time consuming, it makes sense for business owners to outsource these very specialist skills to dedicated security specialists who can also leverage AI for defensive purposes.

Accredited IT specialists who partner with Advance Threat Protection Partners such as Sophos, have access to Rapid Response teams who can assist in identifying and neutralising an active cyber-attack against your organisation.

Some IT specialists can provide a fully managed service delivered by experts who detect and respond to cyber-attacks targeting your computers, servers, networks, cloud. workloads, email accounts, and more.

The reality is that technology solutions alone cannot prevent every cyber-attack. To avoid detection by cybersecurity solutions, malicious actors increasingly use legitimate IT tools, exploit stolen credentials and access permissions, and leverage unpatched vulnerabilities in their attacks. By emulating authorised users and taking advantage of weaknesses in an organisation’s defences, malicious actors can avoid triggering automated detection technologies.

The only way to reliably detect and neutralise determined cyber attackers is with on-screen vigilance 24 hours a day, seven days a week delivered by expert operators who leverage diverse security alerts and real-time threat intelligence to identify and stop threats before the damage is done. That’s where we can help.

This article was first published in the May 2023 edition of In-Cumbria magazine