Microsoft has reported that during the past year, 58% of all cyber attacks observed by them from nation-states have come from Russia. It is vital that you protect your business from cyber attacks.

To protect from such attacks your organisation can apply Multi Factor Authentication (MFA). GCC offer this for free for supported customers.

How to protect your business from cyber attacks

Attacks from Russian nation-state actors are increasingly effective, jumping from a 21% successful compromise rate last year to a 32% rate this year. Russian nation-state actors are increasingly targeting government agencies for intelligence gathering. This jumped from 3% of their targets a year ago to 53% – largely agencies involved in foreign policy, national security or defence. The top three countries targeted by Russian nation-state actors were the United States, Ukraine and the UK.

The below table outlines the country’s, industry sectors and the most active nation activity groups:

What can I do to fight back whilst working in a hybrid working environment?

As online threats increase in volume, sophistication and impact, we must all take steps to strengthen the first line of defence. Deploying fundamental cybersecurity hygiene – like brushing your teeth to protect against cavities or buckling your seatbelt to protect your life – are basic steps we all must take.

Fewer than 20% of GCC customers are using strong authentication features like multi factor authentication (MFA). We offer this for free, and organisations can turn it on by default for their users. In fact, if organisations just applied MFA, used anti-malware and kept their systems updated, they would be protected from over 99% of the attacks we see today.

Technology companies like Microsoft have an important role to play in developing secure software and advanced cyber security products and services for those customers that want to deploy them, and also detecting and stopping threats. Organisations taking basic steps to protect themselves will go further than the most sophisticated steps tech companies and governments might take to protect them.

The good news is that, in the past 18 months, we’ve seen a 220% increase in strong authentication usage as companies have thought about increasing their security posture in a remote work environment. The bad news however, is that we still have a long way to go. Part of the solution needs to be skilling up more cyber security professionals who can help organisations of all kinds stay secure. We will have more to share on our work in this area in the coming weeks.

For more information on Microsoft’s report findings, follow this link.

Further Information

If you have any questions about this or need assistance, then please contact the GCC Group Support Team on 0345 260 1151 or servicedesk@gccgroup.co.uk