UK firms at risk due to lack of IT security training

Businesses in the UK are risking their competitor advantage, reputation and relationships that they have built up with customers. This is according to new research, which found that they are ignoring staff training when it comes to cyber security.

The study was commissioned by best practice company Axelos, a joint venture between the government and outsourcing company Capita.

The report said that the findings are worrying, highlighting that 75% of larger organisations and close to one third of small businesses and organisations fell foul to employee-related breaches last year, with half of the larger breaches a result of human error. These numbers were sourced from a government survey on cyber security breaches for 2015.

The study further found that only a small number of executives in charge of cyber training in organisations that employ more than 500 people feel that their training could be deemed as highly effective. Further, 40% believe their training to be highly effective at creating general awareness in cyber security risks, with slightly more than a quarter saying that they are highly effective in changing the staff culture when it comes to cyber security.

Respondents to the survey said that 50% of staff at most had finished their cyber security awareness initiative.

Nick Wilding, cyber resilience chief from Axelos, said:

“Despite organisations continuing to invest heavily in technology to better protect their precious information and systems, the number and scale of attacks continues to rise as they discover there is no silver bullet to help achieve their desired level of cyber security.”

This lack of cyber awareness in the workforce only highlights the importance of cyber security jobs.