The government is urging businesses across the UK to strengthen their cyber defences against evolving and increasing threats by signing up to a Cyber Resilience Pledge.
The threats businesses face in cyber space can take many forms – including ransomware attacks, denial of service (DoS) attacks, brand impersonation and malware – and they are evolving rapidly. A new generation of AI models is lowering the barrier for cyber criminals, enabling them to find vulnerabilities and carry out attacks at a speed and scale that would have been impossible even a year ago. Recent figures show 43% of UK businesses experienced a cyber breach or attack in the past year, underlining the urgency of action.
Organisations are advised to invest in smarter, more resilient systems that can limit the impact of breaches and keep ahead of attackers, rather than reacting after the damage is done.
What is the Cyber Resilience Pledge?
The pledge, launching later this year, sets out three concrete actions organisations can take to improve their cyber security:
- Making cyber security a board-level responsibility
- Signing up to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)’s free Early Warning Service
- Require Cyber Essentials certification across their supply chains – the UK government-backed cyber security standard that blocks the most common cyber threats.
Together, these steps help businesses reduce risk, protect customers and build confidence across the wider economy.
Cyber attacks are included in the list of nine key risks for Surrey. Information and links to help businesses prepare for and recover from attacks – including the NSCS’s free Cyber Action Toolkit – is available on the Surrey Prepared web pages on the Surrey County Council website. District and Borough councils also provide information about business resilience on their websites.
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