The Budget Item Missing From Your Budget for 2022

25 Aug 2021

In our latest blog, LoughTec CEO Sean McDermott discusses the budget item that you are missing for 2022, and why it’s important to act now.

Thinking back over the past 25 years, I remember how much I was looking forward to having my first work mobile phone. Then in the early 2000s, I was excited to get my first BlackBerry. Connected everywhere, all of the time – what could be wrong with that? ?

Any person, located anywhere in the world, can now get hold of me, 24/7/365.

I always have to answer the phone. I am jealous of people who can ignore phone calls, ignore reading their emails first thing in the morning or at the last thing at night and on holiday. They can switch off, and I cannot.

What never struck me all those years ago was the cost that this new technology was incurring for my employers at the time. This spend was a new overhead, another expense.

Roll the clock forward to the current day. Imagine trying to run a business without mobile phones – any business. Not possible I hear you shout, and I have to agree with you.

So, we now all have mobile phone contracts in our budgets and projections for the next financial year. I wonder how many businesses 20 years ago did not adopt this technology and failed due to that inertia?  Also, I wonder how many very successful companies embraced this technology early and thrived because of that decisiveness.

The missing budget item

Look, I am here to tell you that you have a line, an item missing in your budget spend this year.

You need to invest in Cyber Security protection. Using an Antivirus product alone is NOT enough. If you don’t up your Cyber Security game, you soon will have no business or be overtaken by a company that takes Cyber Security seriously.

Burying your head in the sand and hoping it won’t be you will simply not work. You will get ransomed, or you will have a Business Email Compromise (BEC) scenario, with funds embezzled.

Health and Safety was something we all used to have a very relaxed approach towards, but that is not the case now. If you take H&S seriously, you are less likely to have an accident. Take the same approach to Cyber Security.

What can happen

About eight weeks ago, I got a call early on a Saturday morning from a client. Their computer systems were encrypted and the business was subject to a ransom. It happened on a Friday evening when things were quiet, and no one was on their network. The threat actors had got in and laid in waiting until they could start destroying the business’s data. It was Saturday – LoughTec provides support Monday to Friday from 9.00 AM to 5.00 PM.

So, this was a job we had to charge for outside the terms of the support contract. Within a day, we had the customer restored and all elements of the compromise removed from their network. They were back to where they had been. The customer was annoyed at LoughTec due to the cost to recover their network and systems. I understand that, but LoughTec were not responsible for any element of the attack.

We are about to launch a cyber security solution that will stop these attacks. I mentioned this to the customer and discussed the cost with them. They replied they could not afford it.

Yesterday, I got a call from another company that is currently in deep trouble following a ransomware attack. The ransom they face is 250 times as much as what we charged our client to recover their data. The sad truth is, if they want to recover, they will have to pay.

What should you do now?

To summarise,

•     It would help if you/your company took Cyber Security seriously.
•     No, your IT managed service provider (MSP) is not responsible for the whole internet, and what you click on.
•     Yes, they (the hackers) can get you – they will not usually target you, but they use automated tools to trawl the WWW to find the occasional victim.
•     If they get you and you don’t have a SAFE offsite backup, pay the ransom or start from scratch.
•     Understand your backup routine. What are your retention periods? Is the backup safe in the event of an attack? How quickly can you recover your data if the worst happens? What is essential data?
•     Spend money on Cyber Security – if you don’t, you will soon have no business.

To discuss your business and current cyber security protection, contact LoughTec today. We provide a range of cyber security solutions, helping you and your business reduce the attack surface against the growing threat of cybercrime.

Contact Cyber Security Company LoughTec for a free no-obligation discussion on your business cyber security posture. Call +44 (0) 28 8225 2445 or email info@loughtec.com.