Around 90 organisations were hit by personal data breaches in March this year, following a major cyber-attack on outsourcing and professional services provider Capita, according the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office.
Organisations affected include pension funds such as The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), whose customer’s personal data has been breached as a result of the attack.
The ICO said that a pool of data has been exposed unsecured online and hundreds of thousands of users are now being warned that they may be victims of the attack.
Capita says that it is taking steps to secure the data and that it “continues to work closely with specialist advisers and forensic experts to instigate the cyber incident.”
The outsourcing giant handles millions of user data, including private and public organisations such as companies that administer payments from pension schemes as well as local councils.
Achi Lewis, area VP EMEA for Absolute Software, commented: “Attacks of this kind are a reminder that all organisations must be increasingly vigilant around the protection of data and how to handle a cyber-attack when it occurs, or else risk huge reputational and financial loss.”
Lewis added: “Even organisations that have security protections in place are not exempt from an attack and it is vital that businesses are not just trying to stop cyber-attacks from happening but are building resiliency to respond to attacks and secure systems and devices.”
Lewis advised that customers use new technologies such as “self-healing technology” which can lock devices if they become vulnerable, automatically update core systems and ensure devices are back online as quickly as possible.
The ICO commented: “We are receiving a large number of reports from organisations directly affected by these incidents and we are currently making enquiries.”
A recent article on TI suggests that cyber security warnings are falling on deaf ears in terms of industry. Cyber security also appears to be the only reason customers are dissuaded from switching to digital-only banks.
Cyber security spending is also not being used to its full potential, according to a further study, which begs the question: can firms do more to reduce the likelihood of an attack?
To see how your business can mitigate a ransomware attack, read our latest report on the topic here.
