As the UK government warns of a heightened risk of cyberattack, Check Point reveals that British companies are already experiencing an average of 561 attacks a week and says a prevent-first approach is needed
March 14th 2022 — Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), a leading provider of cyber security solutions globally, urges UK companies to take a prevent-first approach to cybersecurity amid the ongoing conflict. According to Check Point Research (CPR), organisations in the UK are experiencing an average of 561 attacks per week. The most impacted industry is Education/Research with 1,917 weekly cyberattacks.
In light of the current circumstances, the National Cyber Security Centre, the Minister for Technology and the Digital Economy, Chris Philps, and even the UK Financial Watchdog have all warned of a heightened threat of cyberattack and pleaded for UK organisations to review their cyber defences. Unfortunately, the risk of cyberattack has been increasing for a long time, especially with the proliferation of fifth generation (Gen V) attacks, which many companies are not set up to deal with. Gen V attacks are unique in the way that they leverage broad attack surfaces and multiple infection vectors to infiltrate large numbers of organisations. However, it is possible to prevent them from reaching your network.
The new world of remote workforces had already driven a surge in cyberattacks and the risk now has continued to grow. With the cybersecurity threat landscape continually evolving and with the attack surface becoming wider, modern organisations need to recalibrate their cybersecurity approach. They need to do this around three main elements: securing their corporate networks and datacentres, securing cloud environments and lastly, securing employees – wherever they are. Achieving complete protection across the expanded attack surface requires security solutions that deliver complete security against Gen V, zero-day attacks; solutions that are easy to deploy and manage; and eliminate patchwork security architectures and high TCO with integration and interoperability.
Ian Porteous, Regional Director, Security Engineering, UK&I at Check Point says: “While I will always support renewed warnings for companies to bolster their cyber defences, I would urge all organisations to go one step further and prioritise prevention rather than detection. It is possible to be proactive with cybersecurity, the technology exists to prevent even unknown threats from entering the corporate network. User education is important too. Even taking simple actions can help, such as ensuring that employees are mindful of some basic checks they can do themselves, such as ensuring an email address is authentic, looking out for any misspellings in emails and not opening attachments or clicking links unless they are certain that the email is safe.”
Check Point Research (CPR) has been analyzing cyber activities surrounding the war and, in the first three days of combat, documented a 196% increase in cyberattacks targeting the Ukrainian government and military sector. CPR noted that Telegram has become a huge digital ally in the conflict and has also discredited various forms of fake news that have been spreading fast.