cyber crime

No 3 Minute Warning: Businesses Held Ransom By Online Hackers Who Can Attack In Seconds

No 3 Minute Warning: Businesses Held Ransom By Online Hackers Who Can Attack In Seconds

Shane Donnelly February 28, 2017 News

UK small businesses are being urged to protect themselves from ransomware, which can attack in seconds and cost victims thousands of pounds. Under the cyber-attack, online hackers can shut down a company’s website and encrypt its data before asking for large sums of money to release the information. According to a new study by Timico, 74% of all businesses held to ransom said the attack had an instant impact, with their data systems going from fully functional to essentially useless within seconds. 26% of those surveyed said their systems were paralysed within a few seconds, 21% reported under a minute, while a further 27% said the criminals took hold of their system within a few minutes. When it comes to the consequences of such attacks, businesses are losing more than just time – as they... »

41% of All Ransomware Attacks Aimed at Small Businesses

41% of All Ransomware Attacks Aimed at Small Businesses

Shane Donnelly March 16, 2016 News

41% of all ransomware attacks in the last year were targeted at small businesses, according to a report by Intermedia. The 2016 Crypto-Ransomware report found, that of smaller enterprises that had fallen victim to cyber security hacks, 29% had between 10 and 99 employees while 12% only had between one and nine. More worryingly, these cyber attacks were not just limited to one person with 47% of viruses spreading to more than 20 individuals within a small business. The effects of ransomware on small businesses can be severe – with operations often brought to a standstill for a minimum of two days. This has obvious financial implications as small and medium enterprises need to stay running in order to be competitive. The report comes just months after it was revealed over a third of UK small... »

Cyber Crime Costs Business £21bn per Year

March 1, 2011 News

Cyber crime now costs UK business £21 billion a year, a new Government report has revealed. According to a Cabinet Office report, The Cost of Cyber Crime (PDF), internet crime is on the rise as businesses are increasingly reliant on IT. The report found firms are losing £9.2 billion a year from intellectual property theft, £7.6 billion from industrial espionage, £2.2 billion from extortion, £1.3 billion from direct online theft, and £1 billion from the loss or theft of customer data. Get Safe Online managing director, Tony Neate, said that small businesses should be on guard against all these risks. “Businesses need to protect their PCs with anti-virus, access control, spyware and firewalls. Then they need to educate themselves and their employees ... »