A North-east business leader will urge small and medium businesses to wake up to the risk of cybercrime at a top level summit taking place in Aberdeen next week.
A North-east business leader will urge small and medium businesses to wake up to the risk of cybercrime at a top level summit taking place in Aberdeen next week.
Small businesses can be easy targets for cyber criminals, mainly due to a lack of budget, inadequate security policies and a general lack of knowledge of cyber security issues, Austen Clark, managing director of Clark Integrated Technologies, will warn. And they must be prepared to take action to protect against the potentially devastating consequences that can be wreaked by hackers.
An international line up of cyber security and anti-terrorism experts, policy makers and business leaders will gather in Aberdeen for the two-day global security and cyber summit which will reinforce the need for collaboration in the oil capital of Europe.
Mr Clark is among the key speakers and will explore why the attitude of SMES to security is a concern in the world economy.
As bigger firms tighten up on cyber security systems, hackers are being locked out and are looking for alternative ‘markets’, warns Mr Clark.
“Cybercriminals are increasingly turning their focus to smaller firms,” Mr Clark says. “It may be through phishing attacks where hackers send emails pretending to be from reputable companies in order to con individuals into revealing passwords and credit card numbers. Ransomware and spam are other methods that are used to exploit a small business.
“The number of attacks, reported breaches and attempts to compromise those that use the Internet is on the rise daily.
“Reports of large business reach the news yet there are many un-reported stories of companies that experience attacks, financial losses and data breaches that we never hear of.
“They are softer targets due to lack of awareness, resources being set aside and skills as this is an ever-changing and developing threat. The key for the SMB market is awareness and knowledge - raising the awareness and being able to protect themselves through practical steps that they can follow with limited resources.”
Upwards of 200 people are expected to attend the summit which will be chaired by John Holmes, former commanding officer of UK Special Forces and now chairman of Quintel Intelligence. The summit has been organised by OSP Security Professionals and takes place at Ardoe House Hotel on May 24 and 25.
Mr Clark adds: “This summit will put global security and cyber security at the top of the agenda and quite rightly so. This is an issue that no business can afford to ignore.”
Founded 25 years ago, Clark IT is based near Turriff in Aberdeenshire. The firm has become one of Scotland’s leading independent providers of managed ICT solutions and has a broad range of corporate and commercial clients not only in the North-east but across Scotland and beyond.
Clark IT clients benefit from the specialist knowledge of the firm’s 26-strong team to support their systems and through managed IT services. Clients also benefit from Pro-active IT Support, 24/7 Monitoring, a virtual IT Manager, IT costs fixed for three years and a strategic IT plan tailor-made for their business.