Britain’s bosses not trained to deal with a cyber attack

New government research has revealed that more than two thirds of companies say their directors have no training in responding to cyber attacks.

The Cyber Governance Health Check found that one in 10 of the 105 businesses in the FTSE 350 questioned have no plan to cope with hacking, despite 54 per cent of company boards listing computer hacking as one of the main threats to their business. A worrying 68 per cent have no specific training to deal with a hacking incident.

Furthermore, only six per cent of businesses completely prepared for new data protection rules, leading to Minister for Digital Matt Hancock saying that ‘we have a long way to go until all our organisations are adopting best practice’.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) come into effect in May 2018, with the report finding that awareness of GDPR was good, with 97 per cent aware of the new regulation, 71 per cent prepared to meet the GDPR requirements, with only six per cent being fully prepared.

Hancock said: “We have world leading businesses and a thriving charity sector but recent cyber attacks have shown the devastating effects of not getting our approach to cyber security right. These new reports show we have a long way to go until all our organisations are adopting best practice and I urge all senior executives to work with the National Cyber Security Centre and take up the government’s advice and training. Charities must do better to protect the sensitive data they hold and I encourage them to access a tailored programme of support we are developing alongside the Charity Commission and the National Cyber Security Centre.”