National IT Professionals Day

Today marks National IT Professionals Day which acknowledges the incredible work of IT professionals in the UK. Created in 2015, it celebrates all tech experts who take care of an organisation’s inner workings so that employees can operate seamlessly on company networks.

Over the last few years, we have seen technology advanced at a rate of knots and with these developments, so too has cybercrime advanced meaning IT departments have had to stay one step ahead.

In 2015, when IT Professionals Day launched, cybercrime was already significantly problematic, with an unprecedented number of data breaches occurring. There was also the growing realisation of the value of personal data to companies which then allowed for more professional, organised cybercrime to take hold. High-profile companies that were targeted at this time included Hilton and Trump Hotels, the broadband firm TalkTalk and V-Tech.

This increased level of activity meant that IT professionals suddenly had their work cut out with their attention shifting towards improving organisations’ cyber defences against such threats such as ransomware and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks which proved the most popular with criminals in 2015.

Fast forward to today and cybercrime is only getting stronger. Investment in cyber security has never been so important and as reported by the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024, half of businesses (50%) have experienced some form of cyber security breach or attack in the last 12 months. This is much higher for medium businesses at 70% at large businesses at 74%.

The report also found that phishing is the most common type of breach or attack (84% of businesses) and estimates that a company’s single most disruptive breach from the last 12 months cost each business, of any size, an average of approximately £1,205.

It’s now more critical than ever for businesses to factor cyber into their IT resource and focussing on the increased threats that now exists. IT professionals need to be paying particular attention to a variety of specific processes to ensure systems remain secure and include:

1. Identifying and acting on opportunities to improve and update software and systems
2. Developing and implementing IT policy and best practice guides for the organisation
3. Designing training programmes and workshops for staff
4. Conducting regular system audits
5. Running regular checks on network and data security

Police CyberAlarm is a tool designed to protect personal data, trade secrets and intellectual property which organisations can sign up to as a member for free. It is designed to work alongside current network security devices, monitoring the logs of traffic seen by a member’s connection to the internet. It will detect and provide regular reports of suspected malicious activity, enabling organisations to minimise their vulnerabilities.

To learn more or to register, visit https://cyberalarm.police.uk/

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