Protecting the UK’s Digital Economy
Businesses have traditionally stood little chance against cybercrime. But technology lawyer and businesswoman, Sophie Newbould, says change is now afoot…
Lagging in the polls and with an election on the way, Rishi Sunak nonetheless continues to encourage businesses to invest in the digital economy. The prime minister is right to do so. But unfortunately he forgets one crucial fact: the internet is unsafe and exposed.
Sunak – according to Westminster lore – is renowned for spending long hours buried in his briefing books but one of his special advisors should slip him some stats about the financial harm for British businesses due to online crime. It’s frankly terrifying.
Regulatory failures
The more a business uses the internet the more exposed it is but many will likely be unaware of what their potential liabilities are. They’re not entirely to blame. Policymakers have long tailored cybersecurity and data regulations far too heavily towards large organisations and post-attack events. The result is a weak regulatory framework and laws which pay mere lip-service to the real online harm faced by ordinary businesses, law firms and public sector organisations every day.
Unfortunately, the government’s approach has also included using taxpayer’s money to back potential technology unicorns as the answer to longstanding problems of underperformance and overspending. They give the impression of hoping that getting some of the credit for a few big wins will balance out the return-on-investment calculations.
The March 2023 Budget, what is in it for UK tech? (techuk.org)
A regrettable consequence of speculating to accumulate means that very little priority is given to strengthening online protection for citizens, businesses, and those public sector services we all rely on day in and day out.
ICO confirms data breach probe as UK councils remain downed by cyberattack | TechCrunch
What’s worse is that organisations that fail to understand their own risk position through robust due diligence will never have the choice to mitigate. In other words, they are flying digitally blind.
Introducing digital risk management
Operating a business online properly and securely is not cheap, but it will add value.
Most of us don’t understand what these additional costs are for but ‘digital risk management’ is a vital component of any well-managed business. Covering commercial, legal, financial, technical, and executive roles and responsibilities, it also helps conjure up the key evidence – both technical and forensic – which can help rebuff the threat of ever-circling cybercriminals.
I got introduced to forensic online evidence last year by Andy Jenkinson of Cybersec Innovation Partners. Andy showed me what these cybercriminals can see from the internet side of your website or digital asset. And what is it they see? Absolutely everything, if you're exposed and they can wander in - just like an open door or window.
“Security has always played the poor cousin, an afterthought,” he explained. “Sadly, despite colossal losses, this is still the case today. As we rapidly move towards adoption of blockchain and quantum computing the challenges are exacerbated. Security is always someone else’s problem at some later point. But technology and communication is totally reliant upon the security of the internet and connections to it. This is where things can go dreadfully wrong.
Microsoft's Dangerous Addiction To Security Revenue | LinkedIn
He went on to cite the recent cyber-attacks experienced by Microsoft and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “These incidents demonstrated that the very companies assumed to prioritise security are making grave errors and those errors passed directly onto their customers,” he said. “It’s one thing to not be secure by poor security posture, quite another to be forced to be completely exposed, vulnerable, and insecure to cyber incidents due to the negligence of technical giants.”
So what can businesses do?
Working with top security providers, Newboulds' sister tech firm innov8law can help your organisation to understand and manage its internal and external online risk position.
In real-time, innov8law experts can call-out and identify potential exposures, remedy the harms and rehabilitate the infrastructure. Our quantum safe products and services providers available via these channels or direct can provide a vital layer of protection to your business, causing minimal disruption to your existing operations.
You, as business owner, are now back in control, on top of your risk and a lot more secure online. Now you’re ready to grow, without having to wait for the government – whatever its political stripe – to catch up with you.
