BUSINESS SUPPORT CYBERSECURITY
Your business is at risk from cybercrime, but Cyber Essentials could be the defence mechanism you need – and what your clients demand
REDUCE THE THREAT
Y ou wouldn’t leave your tools out overnight. But every day across the UK, small builders and sole traders are doing the digital equivalent – leaving their businesses open to cybercriminals. All it takes is an email address on the side of a van. “When I see something like brilliantbuilder@hotmail.com or brilliantbuilder@btinternet.com printed on a van,” says Leigh Wood, Director and Cybersecurity Expert at Node IT Solutions, “it’s a huge red flag that the business probably doesn’t have basic cybersecurity in place. If I can see that, so can hackers.” The construction sector has become a major target for attacks, and small companies are often vulnerable. The impact of a breach is always inconvenient but it could also be catastrophic. Imagine you’ve just finished a job that cost you around £40,000 to deliver. You
● firewalls – to secure internet businesses’ connections; ● secure configuration – to set up devices safely; ● user access control – to restrict who can access what; ● malware protection – to block viruses and threats; and ● patch management – to keep software up to date. There’s also Cyber Essentials Plus, which adds an external audit for extra assurance. So how much does all of this cost? Well, it depends. Certification is around £400-£600 but then there is the support to get you to the standards required for certification and ongoing tools and IT support which could range from £10 a month for a back-up or antivirus system to a whole lot more based on the service you choose.
Leigh Wood What is Cyber Essentials? Cyber Essentials is a UK Government- backed certification scheme managed by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). send your client the final invoice, they pay it, but the money never arrives. Someone intercepted the email and replaced your bank details with their own. It happens more often than you’d think. “The client says, ‘I’ve paid you,’ and you say, ‘No you haven’t,’” explains Wood. “But the scammer’s long gone, and the client is not paying twice. That could be enough to sink your business.”
It helps businesses protect themselves against common
cyberthreats. It sets out a basic but vital set of standards covering five key areas, which are:
24 Master Builder
www.fmb.org.uk
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