Cyber criminals target HMRC
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has published a report stating that HMRC was the most targeted government website in 2017 with 16,047 internet imposters found and removed.
Active Cyber Defence (ACD) was launched last year as part of the National Cyber Security Strategy to improve matters by disrupting cyber attacks that affect the UK.
Key points from the NCSC’s report include:
- The UK’s share of global phishing attacks dropped from 5.3% (June 2016) to 3.1% (Nov 2017)
- 121,479 phishing sites hosted in the UK were removed and 18,067 worldwide spoofing UK government
- Takedown availability times for sites spoofing government brands down from 42 hours to 10 hours
- A significant drop in scam emails from bogus ‘@gov.uk’ accounts (total of 515,658 rejected)
Much cyber security work to do
It is clear from the results of the report that the ACD is helping to combat cyber crime but there is still much more work to do.
The world is changing and cyber criminals are adapting. Ransomware and data theft attacks are becoming more frequent and the cost to the victims in these situations is mounting.
Despite the threat of a cyber attack, many companies are not prepared. It is crucial for businesses to stop ignoring these security threats. A good starting point for companies would be a secure cloud backup facility.
BrightPay now offers a secure cloud backup to save your payroll information. BrightPay Connect is built using a design structure that maximises payroll data security.
Each user will have their own login details and password. BrightPay Connect utilises the Microsoft Azure platform, which gives customers reliability and security updates. BrightPay Connect also offers an automatic backup feature which additionally allows users to restore payroll information.
BrightPay will be exhibiting at Accountex London 2018 on stand 430.
