One of my roles as a marketeer is to find interesting, pertinent ‘of the moment’ content to circulate, write about and comment on across our social media platforms and website.

I have experienced times in the past when finding content that is interesting and relevant, and worth writing home about, was difficult.

I have to say, rather worryingly, that working for a business that houses its own Cyber Security division, I do not experience content drought.

Every morning when I awake I am astounded by the latest news and headlines on who has been hacked, breached, phished etc. Even more worryingly is these are large organisations, well known house-hold names, big brands that you’d not ordinarily expect to hear have had issues. In just the last few weeks, there have been reports of breaches from Butlins, Superdrug and PGA.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about the amount of content I have to work with but really! I’m also not saying that they hadn’t all got a cyber security policy, procedure and security event protocol in place. I’m sure they did and will be busily reviewing them right now to see what more could’ve been done to protect their customer’s precious data. But, as is often the case when more information comes out in the press, the data breach could’ve been avoided by employing better staff training or using dual authentication log ins.

I attended a seminar recently where the North East Special Operations Unit (NERSOU) Regional Cyber Crime Unit, was keynote. Their speaker said something which I think is the raw truth of it all. Burglars have not changed their tactics. They are opportunists. They will walk down a street trying doors. If a door is locked, they’ll try the door of the next house, until they find one open – and then they go in and help themselves to what they want. Some have a thing for jewellery, some for games consoles and some for the home owner’s prized Porsche.

Whatever they take, the crime leaves an aftermath; an often time consuming and costly up front clean up exercise, with and a detrimental effect on the home owner in the knowledge that their personal items are probably being sold on to other criminals, with little chance of return.

It was a very simple, yet powerful illustration and it explained cyber crime in a way I had not yet thought. Fighting crime, no matter what variety, is a never-ending battle but by employing some simple solutions and services, the risks of being a victim of cyber-crime can be mitigated and could mean the difference between keeping your trade secrets and customer data safe than being sold to the highest bidder!

Don’t leave your door wide-open. Please get in touch and speak with one of our Cyber team to see how we can help you to protect your business’s IP, brand reputation and embarrassment.