Small businesses in Manchester have been urged to act after new data revealed almost half suffered an online attack in 2022.
According to the government’s 2022 Cyber Breaches Survey, 44% of small companies in the city suffered a cyber incident last year. That compares to an average of 38% across the UK.
The survey also found that Manchester firms are less likely than those in the rest of the UK to have a cyber incident response plan in place and are also less likely to have conducted staff training on cyber security.
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The range of attacks against small businesses can vary widely, from business email compromise to denial of service and ransomware attacks.
The National Cyber Security Centre, which is a part of GCHQ, has now called in firms to make use of its latest online services.
To help small businesses, microbusinesses and sole traders improve their defences the NCSC has launched the Cyber Action Plan, which they can complete online in under five minutes to get tailored advice on how they can improve their cyber security.
A second service called Check your Cyber Security – which is accessible via the Cyber Action Plan – can be used by any small organisation including schools and charities and enables non-tech users to identify and fix cyber security issues within their businesses.
Lindy Cameron, the chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, said: "Manchester has a thriving community of small businesses, but we know that that cyber criminals pose a serious threat to them.
"That’s why the NCSC has created the Cyber Action Plan and Check Your Cyber Security to help them boost their online defences in a matter of minutes.
"I strongly encourage all the city’s small businesses to use these tools today to keep the cyber criminals out and their operations on track."
The founder of Loaf Mcr Aiden Ryan, who himself suffered a cyber attack, has backed the importance of raising cyber security awareness among the city’s small business community.
He said: "It’s something I see a lot of people in the business community talking about nowadays, and it’s something I really want people to consider.
"With my cake and coffee brand, Loaf Mcr, I am an active a part of Manchester’s thriving small business community. The business grew during lockdown from making cakes to raise money for the NHS to supplying his bakes to Selfridges and 13 different cafes cross Manchester.
"Over the course of lockdown I began to notice that more fellow small business owners seemed to be falling victim to cyber attacks.
"Lots of businesses across Manchester were having their social media accounts hacked and I spotted that the small business community was rallying together to promote cyber security advice.
"In lockdown there seemed to be a heightened awareness of the importance of cyber security as a result of some prolific Manchester accounts in the food business sharing stories about being hacked.
"You'd often see Instagram stories where you’d know the account had been compromised, or big social media accounts would share stories of businesses who’d been attacked, explaining they'd lost accounts and followers. That had a big impact.
"After that, I know that lots of businesses starting to use 2SV (2-Step Verification) and think about their cyber security.
"Before starting Loaf, my personal Twitter account was hacked and completely taken over, after a leak of log ins and email addresses was posted to a hacker sharing site.
"The hacker cleared all evidence of me off the account and changed my password and the account email address so I couldn’t get back in.
"Years later when I set up my business, I took this incident into account and prioritised my cyber security from the get-go. From the start I used 2-Step Verification on all my social media accounts and set up an entirely new email address.
"That was a lesson learned. When I set up the brand, I took cyber security steps immediately. It's one thing when it happens to your personal accounts where you speak to friends and family, and quite another when it’s a business account with following of 14,000 and two to three years of work behind it.
"Often, people have paid money to grow those followings; they’ve spent on social media marketing tools, and agency advice. So, when something happens they lose the money they've invested as well as the future business.
"It’s something I see a lot of people in the business community talking about nowadays, and it’s something I really wants people to consider.
"I think ever since I started using 2SV, I felt more confident. I don't feel scared it's going to happen to me but I do know that you can always do more.
"Loaf was built through community. It was an underdog story - people want to see good things happen. Which is why I feel so passionate about this too; I want to help others in the business community recognise that this matters. Businesses are built through community and they thrive through community."
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