Professional services companies in the UK have experienced 62 cyberattacks in the last 12 months – one every six days – according to new research by Keeper Security. The company’s 2021 Cybersecurity Census Report has also revealed that almost half (48%) of IT decision-makers working at professional services companies have kept a cybersecurity attack on their organisation to themselves, raising questions about how badly affected businesses are by these attacks.
Professional service organisations such as lawyers, accountants and consultancies are increasingly becoming a lucrative target for cybercriminals as the rewards for managing to breach such organisations are vast, given the amount of sensitive data available. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that IT is now the top investment priority (47%) for business leaders in the professional services sector. Nearly all (95%) of these organisations know where the gaps in their cybersecurity defences are but many are struggling to fully address them.
Cybersecurity education and a lack of skills throughout the organisation are proving to be significant issues at professional services businesses wanting to bolster their cyberdefences. A large proportion of IT leaders (65%) agree that there is a cybersecurity skills shortage within their organisation and over half (59%) for example believe that employees don’t understand the cybersecurity implications of poor password hygiene.
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