BUSINESSES in Northern Ireland are increasing investment in cyber security, but more must be done, according to the findings of a new survey.
According to the latest research of both the public and private sector from BT Business in Northern Ireland additional investment has been made in security technology, tools and resources following the well-documented attacks of Wannacry and Petya earlier this year.
The issue of cyber security is now also being discussed at board and appear to be no longer viewed as solely an IT issue. The survey has further revealed that some companies have in-house security expertise while others use third party resources to protect their business or organisation. All of those questioned said they were confident about their ability to deal with cyber security threats in the next twelve months, but crucially just over half said they had the necessary skills they needed, to deal with a cyber attack.
Regional director for BT Business in Northern Ireland, Paul Murnaghan said companies need to be fully prepared.
“As this survey shows, both the public and private sector face big challenges, not least the constantly evolving cyber security threat and for some, even if it was readily available, there is a lack of trained cyber security expertise to manage and deal with that threat. Understandably, not every firm can afford to have this in-house - but that’s where BT can help."
BT has more than 2,500 security experts, protecting against over 250,000 attacks a month. The company also works with 220 market leading partners and vendors including global giants Cisco and local SME Cyphra.
