Tuesday, 15 December 2015
Cyber security is an ever growing threat; in fact it’s almost impossible to read the news today and not see something related to cyber security or fraudulent activity. Grant McGregor Ltd and The Royal
Last week saw the team from Grant McGregor participating in a fraud prevention seminar, which was held in the Hilton Grosvenor Hotel in Edinburgh’s West End.
The seminar combined presentations and discussions from two key speakers. Mr Stewart Thom, Fraud Prevention Expert from the Royal Bank of Scotland and our very own Mr Jon Towers, Director at Grant McGregor Ltd.
Organised in partnership with Scotland based accountancy firm, Thomson Cooper, last week’s seminar attracted up to 60 guests from all over Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife. All hoping to gain a better understanding of how fraudulent behaviour is carried out and what we, as business people or as individuals, can to do prevent this from happening.
Cyber security is an ever growing threat; in fact it’s almost impossible to read the news today and not see something related to cyber security or fraudulent activity.
Prevention methods and ways of educating people on fraudulent behaviour and cyber security awareness are extensive and there are so many different measures that could be put in place. So… when taking to the podium to present a brief discussion on the topic – Jon Towers focused his discussion on three main practical steps to take (listed below).
These 3 points should guide you in the right direction to safeguard your data and help you to prevent your digital life from being negatively affected.
Three Main Steps Everyone Should Take...
* Implement layers of security as part of a Network Security Plan
* Understand the human implications (password management and employee education)
* Ensure reliable recovery methods are ready to deal with any disasters
Below is a short checklist to make sure you're up to date with our 3 main takeaways:
Layered Defences:
Are you regularly updating all of your software for security patches and fixes? How frequently and how effectively do you conduct this (or is this done for you)? Do you perform regular security scans to test and address the vulnerabilities on your network?
Employee Education:
Are you still using Password1 or the same password everywhere? If so, your employees or colleagues probably are too. Get your free copy of our guide to stronger passwords. And put the guidance into practice for your organisation. Not only is it critical that you have a strong password, it is also very important to change it regularly!
Reliable Recovery:
If you’ve not properly tested how effective your back-up/recovery plan is (if you have one that is!) then please dig it out, dust it off and test it fully ASAP. Having a suitable, workable disaster recovery plan will determine how fast you can recover back to normal, to what most recent point in time, plus working out what you’ve lost and the potential impact of that….
Everyone should assume that at some point in time you will have to recover your systems, so don't bury your head in the sand! It is inevitable that your business will need to do this so you need to be confident it works.
We have produced a Six Questions Guide to Better Recovery which will explain a few of the options available that could save your company when it really counts.
And just in case you are worried about anything obvious you might be missing, we have produced a 15-point checklist for you to consider your own IT security measures against.
The security seminar featured RBS’s Stewart Thom, who gave a insightful (if not rather disconcerting) presentation on how increasingly sophisticated and dangerous cyber attacks and cyber fraud is becoming in today’s digital age. Stewart provided real life insights and examples into how these malicious fraudsters operate, and the lengths they will go to in pursuance of successfully parting you from your passcodes and your money!
Stewart’s presentation emphasised that the sophisticated methods and social engineering techniques used by fraudsters nowadays that can dupe even the most vigilant of people.
For a copy of either Stewart or Jon's seminar slides and for either the 15 point checklist, Disaster Recovery guide or our guide to Stronger Passwords - Contact us here!
