Since my last StayPrivate column, a Great Power struggle has erupted, war looms in continental Europe, millions of citizens are displaced, the airwaves are thick with ghoulish forecasts about the cost-of-living crisis, we have a Sunak Spring Statement selling tax reductions whilst the opposite unfolds, and smooth-talking lawyers deftly avoid hard questions while pleading no, not them, they never worked for any Russians, only for those unfortunate wives, mistresses or business partners.
We are warned to be on the guard for increased hacks and cyber threats. My bank writes to me by email telling me not to trust any emails from the bank and that I should be aware that my wealth manager may be a Russian bot. For all the good he has done me I could be forgiven thinking he was in the employ of a foreign state, not an FCA-regulated Bank!
Back to the desk, we see Meta fined for GDPR breaches alongside more stories of ransomware attacks. But whilst the renewed focus on cyber threats and fines is welcome, I still see customers unsure as to what they could or should do.
As General MacArthur noted, we must be on the front foot, seizing the initiative and IMHO if we aren’t, then someone else will be and they may not be friendly. I find myself using new phrases in meetings with clients, ‘cyber hygiene’, ‘data security’, ‘GDPR compliance’ – which makes the flow of conversation quite difficult if you are anything like me and want clients to like you!
Perhaps we should help ourselves and our clients, let our marketing tell the story and automate sales processes as much as possible. Good margins are great, but we need volumes too. So here are some useful facts which may help you on your way: in 2021, the average UK Ransomware attack cost a larger company £130,000 and a smaller company between £8500 and £13500 (UK Cyber Security Breaches, 2021). Emails to and from personal email accounts are involved in nearly all (over 70%) of breaches and 39% of UK Respondents to HMG’s Cyber Security Breaches’ attacks in 2021’s survey reported an attack – that’s four in ten clients.
For more information contact me at adrian@stayprivate.com or through one of our distribution partners like Zest4.
"customers first' – working out what each of our firms do well, doing it better & growing existing customer spends were all key themes." - Adrian Barnard