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“The news that three-quarters (74%) of privacy-immature organisations experienced losses of more than £350,000 last year caused by data breaches makes one thing clear: the potential cost of suffering a major security breach is enormous and the threats that we face are only increasing. What’s more, with our latest report revealing that a fifth of the UK public believe cybercrime and hacking are the biggest challenges facing the UK today (above global economic uncertainty and the skills gap), each organisation has an obligation to make data protection as much of a priority as the public, who are regularly asked to hand over financial and other personal data.

“Although organisational awareness of potential attacks is on the rise, online criminals are finding new and creative ways to dupe people into compromising sensitive financial and personal data. This means that “unusual behaviour” is getting harder to detect and might not seem unusual at all. And with employees on the front line of this battle, more must be done to improve user awareness and training – especially of regulations like GDPR which should help gain more control of the data we all hold. Upskilling employees and making them more cyber aware is one of the most cost effective ways of reducing the probability and impact of human error.

“But it won’t work as a standalone policy. Organisations need to continue to invest in technical and security controls, whilst doing more to proactively identify and manage threats instead of waiting for breaches to happen.

“Even the best-run company could suffer from a hack or data breach. The ripple effects of an attack no longer stay within the four walls of an organisation, and businesses of all sizes must rethink their approach and stop defying cybersecurity practices.”