Top 5 Cyber Security Trends in 2024

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Across the UK, businesses are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs of sophisticated cyber threats. From AI-powered security measures to the growing concerns of supply chain vulnerabilities, 2024 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for cyber defence.

This blog explores the top cyber security trends that any business owner should be aware of. We’ll spare you the tech jargon and provide straightforward, practical advice on how to protect your business from emerging threats. Whether you’re a café owner in London or run an e-commerce site, these trends will help you stay one step ahead.

What Cyber Security Trends Have to Do with You

‘I’m not a cyber security business—why on earth should I care about this year’s trends?’—you, dubiously clicking on this article, probably. Regardless of your industry, cyber security affects every business. If you want to keep your team, assets, and reputation protected, staying up-to-date with cyber security trends is your best bet.

These trends, whether fleeting or long-lasting, can significantly impact your business operations. For instance, the types of cyber insurance policies available to you may change to account for new emerging cyber threats in the UK. Moreover, when your IT support team proposes new defensive measures, some background knowledge of the digital landscape will reassure you that they’re not just sales tactics but necessary updates to safeguard your business. Understanding what’s happening in cyber security, even a little bit, enables you to make informed decisions and prepare adequately for potential risks.

This Year’s Biggest Cyber Security Trends (So Far)

1. Integration of AI and ML into Cyber Security

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in cyber security isn’t new, but it has become more critical than ever in 2024. As Generative AI threats grow in complexity, businesses are increasingly deploying AI and ML to detect and respond to emerging cyber threats in the UK. These technologies help identify unusual patterns and respond to incidents faster than traditional methods.

2. Rise of Supply Chain Attacks

After trending downwards towards the end of last year, supply chain attacks are once again becoming a prominent cyber threat for small businesses. These attacks target third-party vendors or partners to infiltrate a primary business’s network. You might unknowingly download a compromised attachment for what you think is an invoice from a trusted supplier, which then grants a cyber criminal access to your systems and all your customer data. Or, you could become an unwitting participant in an attack on one of your clients if a hacker uses one of your team’s credentials to do the same to your customers.

Only one in ten UK businesses review the risk posed by their immediate suppliers, and even fewer than this look at their wider chain. With cyber criminals looking for any possible in, thorough vendor assessments and strong contractual security requirements are going to become a key consideration for SMBs moving forward.

3. Increased Reliance on IoT Devices

From smart speakers to security systems to heating, the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has expanded the attack surface for businesses. As more companies integrate IoT into their operations, the need for securing these devices has become paramount. In the UK, it’s estimated that by the end of 2024, over 150 million IoT devices will be in use, with a significant portion connected to business networks. These devices, if not properly secured, can be exploited by cyber criminals to gain unauthorised access to sensitive information.

As the first country to formally ban easily-guessable default passwords on IoT devices, we’re leading the charge on improving the security of this cyber security trend. But, while it’s a big step in the way of common-sense prevention methods, this doesn’t mean SMBs can rest on their laurels. These devices still need proper configuration to keep your business secure, something IT service providers are adept at.

4. Growing Importance of Security Awareness Training

Security awareness training has gained traction as businesses recognise the human element as a critical factor in cyber security. A well-informed workforce can act as a first line of defence against cyber threats for small businesses,and it seems like more and more companies are becoming aware of this.

There’s been a 2% rise in the proportion of SMBs implementing training programs in the last year. Now, 30% of small businesses and 52% of medium organisations are taking steps to educate employees about recognising and responding to threats like phishing and social engineering​. This proactive approach significantly reduces the likelihood of successful attacks stemming from human error.

5. Adoption of Continuous Threat Exposure Management

Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) is an emerging trend that involves regularly assessing and managing potential threats to business operations. Unlike traditional risk assessments conducted periodically, CTEM provides a real-time overview of vulnerabilities, enabling businesses to respond promptly to new threats.

After Gartner predicted that businesses using a CTEM program could see a two-thirds reduction in breaches by 2026, this approach is set to gain further popularity among those looking to stay ahead of emerging cyber threats in the UK.

How to Stay Ahead of Emerging Cyber Threats

Keeping up with cyber security trends involves proactive measures and continuous vigilance—which sounds like a considerable amount of effort, but once these protocols are in place, they’ll become just another part of your daily routines. Consider:

  1. Conducting Comprehensive Vendor Assessments: Regularly evaluate the security practices of third-party vendors and partners. Ensure they adhere to strict security standards to mitigate the risk of supply chain attacks.
  2. Investing in Advanced AI and ML Tools: Leverage AI and ML technologies to enhance threat detection and response capabilities. These tools can help identify unusual activities and automate responses to minimise damage and ease the increasing burden on your IT team.
  3. Securing IoT Devices: Implement robust security protocols for all IoT devices connected to your network. This includes regular firmware updates, strong authentication mechanisms, and network segmentation.
  4. Implementing Security Awareness Training: Regularly educate your employees about the latest cyber threats and best practices for avoiding them. This training should cover phishing, social engineering, and safe internet practices.
  5. Adopting Continuous Threat Exposure Management: Utilise CTEM to maintain a real-time view of your security posture. Regularly assess vulnerabilities and adjust your defences accordingly.

Check Out What’s Trending

In an environment where margins are often tight and resources are limited, being caught off-guard by emerging cyber threats in the UK can be devastating. By staying informed and adapting to the digital landscape, businesses can protect themselves more effectively and ensure their continued success. Rather than being overwhelmed by the challenges, consider these trends as opportunities to strengthen your cyber security posture and safeguard your business’s future.

There are plenty of ways you can stay updated on the latest cyber security trends—we’d recommend following our socials and checking out our blog to get started.

Secure Your Small Business With 4TC – Expert IT Support for London and the Southeast

We offer flexible, forward-thinking IT solutions to small and medium-sized businesses from our offices in London and Essex—but a partnership with us provides more than that.

The 4TC team prides itself on developing long-term relationships that add value to your business with high quality managed support, expert strategic advice, and professional project management.

Ready to make cyber security a priority? We’d be happy to share our wisdom. Get in touch using our contact form today!

Cyber Hygiene 101: Protecting Your Business from Digital Threats

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We all know the importance of practicing good hygiene, and your IT is no exception. Just like in your personal life, implementing proactive cyber security measures helps bolster your London business’s barricade against bugs, viruses, and all sorts of other threats that could grind you to a halt. In this blog, we’ll give you five basic but powerful best practices to help you master the fundamentals of cyber hygiene and build a more resilient digital environment. Let’s get you protected!

1. Use Strong, Unique Passwords to Boost Cyber Safety

First on the list, and we’re starting off nice and easy. Setting strong, unique passwords for all access points to your business’s digital environment is a super simple but incredibly effective defence, and it can be done in a matter of minutes. Strong passwords typically consist of a mix of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters, and are at least 8-12 characters long.

Why It’s Important: Passwords are the first line of defence against unauthorised access to your systems. Weak passwords can be easily guessed or cracked by cyber attackers using entirely unsophisticated methods, leading to potential data breaches and system compromises. It’s not worth your business losing valuable revenue and reputation over an easily avoidable cyber safety blunder like ‘password123’.

How It Helps Secure Your SMB: Fortifying your passwords reduces the likelihood of outsider access, ensuring that confidential business data and critical systems remain safe and beyond cyber criminals’ reach. And, to address any concerns your team may have regarding complicated login details, using password managers can keep them complex and original enough without the risk of being forgotten.

2. Employ Threat Management Tools Like Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Multi-factor authentication adds an additional layer of security by requiring two or more verification methods to gain access to your systems. These methods usually consist of something you know (a password), something you have (a smartphone or security token), and something you are (biometric verification). In practice, this might look like your team being required to enter their password and verify the login attempt with a code sent to their mobile before they can access their email account on a new device.

Why It’s Important: Even if a hacker were to obtain one of your (now far stronger) passwords, MFA means that it’s not enough to get them into your systems. When one authentication factor is compromised, the presence of an additional layer can still keep unauthorised access at bay and eradicate it for good if it’s paired with ongoing monitoring by an IT support team who will be alerted to the threat. MFA acts as a second line of defence, and layering up your cyber security measures in this way is the key to conquering cyber hygiene.

How It Helps Secure Your Business: By implementing multi-factor authentication, SMBs can drastically reduce the chances of security breaches resulting from compromised credentials. In the era of widespread phishing attacks, which made up 84% of all cyber attacks on British businesses last year, installing threat management tools like MFA is an essential component of contemporary cyber safety.

3. Add Regular Software Updates to Your Cyber Security Practices

Security threats don’t just come from beyond your business’s walls; slacking on system maintenance could leave you just as culpable. Regular software updates involve periodically updating all operating systems, applications, and network tools used by your business with the latest security patches and bug fixes released by their vendors. Usually, these can be set to occur automatically outside of business hours, so you don’t have to sacrifice productivity waiting for your IT to get back online.

Why It’s Important: Software updates often include patches for security vulnerabilities that have been discovered since the last version of the software was released. Cyber attackers actively exploit these vulnerabilities, so failing to update your software can leave your business open to attacks. Even when updates aren’t security-specific, they often include patches that optimise the way a software runs, meaning your team never miss out on peak IT performance.

How It Helps Secure Your Business: Since digital threats are always evolving, all the perks of your current software could turn into weak spots over time. Implementing regular updates ensures that the software running on all your team’s devices is protected against new vulnerabilities as they become known. This practice is a cornerstone of effective threat management because it proactively prevents attackers from exploiting outdated software rather than waiting for them to strike before resolving the problem.

4. Opt for Frequent Backups and Data Encryption

While we’re on the topic of regular steps to introduce to your cyber hygiene routine, let’s talk backups.  It’s not enough to only back up your data to on-premises servers. These days, a hybrid approach that involves in-person and cloud-based storage offers SMBs a significant advantage, especially in London, where physical space is a scarce. Adding robust encryption protocols to all your data also ensures it’s secure no matter where it’s located. In non-techie terms, encryption essentially scrambles your data into a format that’s unreadable to anyone without a specific key (i.e., anyone outside your business). It won’t disrupt internal operations, and it keeps out prying eyes rather effectively.

Why It’s Important: Regular backups act as a shield against data loss due to system failures, cyber attacks, or even office accidents (like a coffee spillage taking out your servers). Enhancing your cyber safety further with encryption means that even if they manage to gain access to it, individuals without a decryption key won’t be able to read your data, rendering it useless to them.

How It Helps Secure Your Business: Backups ensure that in the event of data loss, you can quickly restore your data and get your team back up and running with minimal downtime. Encryption, on the other hand, acts as a strong deterrent against data theft, enhancing your company’s data security and adding an essential layer to your threat management framework.

5. Employee Training and Awareness Programs

All these cyber hygiene tips mean nothing if your team don’t understand why they’re expected to follow them. Conducting regular training sessions to educate employees on common cyber threats such as email phishing and social engineering attacks provides them with up-to-date knowledge and renewed confidence in their ability to handle company data responsibly.

Why It’s Important: Believe it or not, employees are often the weakest link in a business’s cyber defence strategies, with as many as 9 in 10 data breach incidents being caused by internal mistakes. Empowering them with knowledge about cyber threats and how your company’s security protocols are designed to address them significantly reduces the risk of accidental breaches resulting from ignorance.

How It Helps Secure Your Business: Well-informed employees are less likely to fall victim to cyber attacks, making your business’s network safer and more secure at every level of operations. Annual or semi-annual awareness sessions ensure that cyber safety remains a top priority for every member of your team, fostering a culture of security and vigilance that reassures both them and your customers.

Step Up Your Business’s Cyber Hygiene

Congratulations, you’re now well on your way to becoming a cyber safety master! Ensuring that these practices are part of your regular operational procedures can transform your company’s approach to cyber security, putting you in an optimal position to manage and mitigate digital threats effectively. By implementing these fundamental cyber hygiene practices, you can significantly enhance your SMB’s resilience against cyber threats. Remember, a commitment to good cyber hygiene not only protects your business assets but also reinforces your reputation as a secure and reliable partner for customers.

Elevate Your Cyber Security with 4TC: Managed IT Support for London Businesses

At 4TC, we strive to help businesses across London and the Southeast realise their untapped potential using technology. From IT management that reduces downtime to custom cyber security solutions that address persistent threat management challenges, we can help you harness technology to deliver improved outcomes for your customers. To find out how we could help you elevate your cyber hygiene, reach out to our expert team today. 

AI scaremongering is rife, but creatives should fear not

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You’ve all seen it. The media is awash with articles and commentary about how AI is going to take all of our jobs and leave only a small fraction of the population with hope of remaining in the careers they know and enjoy.

More research emerged recently which predicts that advertising agencies will replace 7.5% of existing jobs with AI by 2030, but it made a particularly interesting distinction: creative problem-solving roles will thrive.

This brings me on to something that’s been present in my mind for some time now, which is that there’s currently a race to the bottom in agency land. It’s a tough economic climate in general at the moment and, in pursuit of cutting costs, many bosses are exploring automating human roles – focusing on the immediate cost savings – without regard for possible future ramifications.

In particular, those naïvely believing they can lay off their team of copywriters and produce adequate work using ChatGPT are in for a nasty surprise. Of course, businesses should be thinking about how they can utilise emerging technologies, but let’s not get carried away.

AI is a creative companion

It is not a creative replacement.

Another important thing to consider is that while generative artificial intelligence is likely to affect clerical, process-oriented roles, its rise will also pave the way for other opportunities which don’t yet exist. By educating ourselves on the topic and understanding not just where its strengths lie, but its limitations too, we can put ourselves in a strong position as more advancements are made.

Using what we do at WOAW for example — as a personal branding agency it would be impossible to deliver the level of personalisation in our client work as we do, without human control. The intricacies of the tone of voice, emotional understanding and the nuances that make each individual different are only fully understood and effectively applied by people.

That said, we’re thinking about where we can use AI, and it’s proven extremely effective in some key areas. Gathering basic information quickly, organising chronologically, building on existing ideas/concepts and making quick tweaks to things like the length of copy have all been great examples of its effectiveness.

It’s worth adding that even if you aren’t working in a role that’s considered ‘creative’, you aren’t necessarily doomed, either. Around 5 years ago, an AI researcher claimed that “We should stop training radiologists, because in 5 years, AI will have replaced the need for them.” Current demands for radiologists are off the charts and we can’t find enough of them. So, the overall point remains:

Yes, progress is moving very rapidly, but it’s the development of a tool; not a march towards extinction.

Source: AI scaremongering is rife, but creatives should fear not – Business Leader News

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