Just last month specialist electrical and telecommunications retailer Dixons Carphone and ticket reseller Ticketmaster UK made headlines after being hit by data breaches. Needless to say, the threat of cyber shouldn’t be underestimated… and it looks like the UK’s finance & insurance sector isn’t taking chances.
Analysis by SavoyStewart.co.uk shows that the sector outdid others in terms of cybersecurity investment in the period from April 2017 to March 2018. Based on Gov.uk data across more than 800 companies, the consultancy found the following:
The £17,900 average for finance & insurance represented an 85% rise from the sector’s cybersecurity spend in the previous financial year, while the £770 figure was an 82% fall from 2016-2017 – the biggest decrease in investment from all the considered sectors, according to SavoyStewart.co.uk.
“As the scale and sophistication of cyberattacks/breaches intensifies, firms cannot afford to sit back and take the importance of cybersecurity lightly,” commented SavoyStewart.co.uk managing director Darren Best. “As firms now remain reliant on an online ecosystem to conduct business, they must realise their websites and digital communications can be easily targeted and exposed to cyberattacks and breaches.
“So key decision-makers need to put an urgent spotlight on cybersecurity by placing it high on their agenda. This includes investing a sufficient amount of money to ensure their IT estate has the capabilities to consistently get basic defences right and establishing adequate governance on cybersecurity for employees to thoroughly follow.”
