Hi
When I was a child the threat to our safety and security, of which everyone was aware, was from the Soviet Union; we were constantly reminded of the Cold War and the possibility of a nuclear attack. I can remember the Berlin Wall being built (as well as demolished), the Cuban Missile crisis and many other instances when the West felt threatened.
It seems like a long time ago.
Nearly 75 years of relative peace in Europe has meant that our memories have faded and our guard has slipped. Other than the occasional terrorist attack (horrific as they are and life changing for those unfortunate to be directly affected) war is something that happens elsewhere and to other people.
And yet we face an even greater threat today than we have for centuries. Ask your children and they'll know what I am talking about. It is being taught in schools just as the Cold War was in the 1960s.
It is the threat to our cyber-security.
Back when I was a child cyber-security - if we had even heard the term - was something out of science fiction, but that fiction has now become fact.
Pretty much everything we rely on in our daily lives - power to heat our homes, telecoms to communicate, supermarkets to feed us and banks to transfer funds around the world, rely on the internet and communication in what has become know as cyberspace.
Relatively few of us understand how it all works; we just trust that it does. Many of us aren't even aware of the trust we have placed in computers, satellites and complex networks to run our daily lives.
Fortunately, just like in the Cold War, there are organisations trying to protect us.
You may not have heard of the National Cyber Security Centre - its part of GCHQ - but they are fighting a war every bit as real as the Cold War. The good news is that we can all do our bit to help. Cyber security matters not just at a national level but to every business in the Country.
The NCSC has recently published a paper, aimed at businesses, providing all the information we need to keep our businesses and livlihoods safe from the threat of a cyber attack. But the biggest danger is that we ignore it all together in the believe it won't happen to us. But as the paper says:
The majority of cyber attacks are untargeted and opportunistic in nature, with the attacker hoping to take advantage of a weakness (or vulnerability) in a system, without any regard for who that system belongs to. These can be just as damaging as targeted attacks; the impact of WannaCry on global organisations - from shipping to the NHS - being a good example. If you’re connected to the internet then you are exposed to this risk. This trend of untargeted
attacks is unlikely to change because every organisation - including yours - will have value to an attacker, even if that is simply the money you might pay in a ransomware attack.
Stay safe.
Noel Guilford