Cyber crime poses greater risk to SMEs, warns Ernst & Young expert

Small and medium-sized businesses run the risk of incurring greater damage and being worse affected than larger firms in the event of cyber crime, a leading expert has warned.

All companies, regardless of size, need to be acutely aware of the harm attacks from cyber criminals can have on their business, from financial and reputational perspectives, and prepare adequately to deal with them, according to Ernst & Young cyber security expert Niall Jordan.

Mr Jordan was speaking at a gathering of many of the the country’s leading industry experts at the Kingsley Hotel in Cork for the third annual UCC Technology Conference, hosted by the business information systems society.

Also speaking at the event were E-MIT Solutions & Cloud Compare managing director Eamon Moore; Joe Lennon of the global e-book distribution service ePubDirect; and David Coallier, founder of Barricade.io.

In addition to founding the highly-regarded start-up, which monitors server security and alerts owners of serious threats, Mr Coallier acts as a start-up advisor and regularly contributes to industry events.

Also addressing those gathered was SiliconRepublic chief executive Ann O’Dea.

Mr Jordan highlighted the increasing need to face up to online security risks which, he said, are becoming more wide-ranging and sophisticated in line with improvements in companies’ defences.

While larger corporations are likely to suffer reputational damage from any successful attack, they are better positioned to absorb any financial impact.

Smaller firms, however, could be forced out of business and should have a clear policy in place to seek to prevent any security breaches.

Checking and maintaining basic network security; putting an information security policy in place; and identifying and protecting the company’s most important data should all form part of a coherent strategy, Mr Jordan said.

He added more data protection regulation was “coming down the road” and firms need to work to be ahead of the curve and prepare for those changes rather than scrambling to adapt after their introduction.

Earlier this week, professional services firm Espion warned of the potential impending skills shortage in the ICT sector and the consequences of such a void, in an address to EU policymakers.

Espion director Jim Lehane said while the management of information is one of the most important drivers of improvement and competitive advantage for businesses, the career path into information security was not clearly defined.

It is predicted that Europe might face a shortage of up to 900,000 ICT professionals by 2020, risking its potential for growth and digital competitiveness.