By Zach Gray, commercial director at DE Ford Insurance Brokers

YOU don’t have to be a large business to suffer a cyber attack. In fact, if you are a smaller business or organisation you can often be a more appealing target for a cyber criminal.

No matter what size your business or organisation is, making sure you are prepared against a cyber attack is crucial. Cyber crime is becoming increasingly more sophisticated and criminals are using powerful techniques to steal personal data, particularly financial information. The majority of information breaches are, however, still caused by human error.

Ensuring your employees are aware of the potential everyday risks can help protect against an attack. A recent Government survey on cyber breaches highlighted that smaller firms train only 22 per cent of their staff compared to 62 per cent in larger firms.

The most common security breaches arise from viruses or spyware. However, over 30 per cent of attacks involve the attacker impersonating someone in your (or your suppliers'/clients') organisation. This can range from a note advising a change of bank details to a note from the MD asking for a ‘new’ supplier to be paid immediately.

Regular awareness training for your staff is key in the fight against a cyber crime. Be prepared for a possible breach, filter training through your company to all staff.

Here are some top tips to manage your cyber security:

1. Ensure you implement a cyber security strategy outlining the main risks to your organisation

2. Regularly train staff - cyber criminals are regularly using new tricks and techniques

3. Discourage any employees using their own devices and tablets from joining company networks – their security measures are often not as secure and may be vulnerable to viruses

4. Have a social media policy and make all staff aware that many hackers can retrieve all the details they need just from statuses, updates and tweets

5. Carry out regular security updates on all software and devices

6. Regularly change passwords; research from Ofcom says that more than half (55 per cent) of adult internet users use the same for most, if not all, websites.