CCL (Computer Consultants) Limited

Alongside the people you employ, information is probably your company's most valuable asset and resource...

"62% of UK companies had a security incident in the last year”
(DTI – Information Security Breaches Survey 2006)

The Vulnerabilities of Technology

The continuing advances constantly being made in the world of technology, the internet and e-business are having a profound effect in the way that all businesses are run. Our investment in these technological developments is giving us the ability to effectively communicate and trade within a world-wide marketplace without the overheads created by older, less efficient trading methods.

This investment, however, has made us more vulnerable to malicious, internal and accidental damage. Information sent via the internet can be intercepted; the widespread access to your systems opens them up to accidental security breaches; and connection to the internet can often leave an open doorway to your systems.

According to the DTI's Information Security Breaches Survey 2006, the average cost of reported security breaches came to over £12,000 per breach, although this rose to almost £18,000 for incidents of theft and around £90,000 for businesses with 500+ employees.

Protecting Yourself

It is clear that all businesses have information that needs to be protected and, in order to do this, time and money needs to be invested in products that can guard against potential damage. But where do you start?

The first step is to identify what protection you already have in place and highlight what might be needed in the future. You can start to do this by asking yourself a few questions:

• Is your business operating without a written security policy?
• Are you able to identify a person who is responsible for security in your business?
• Does your business allow remote access to corporate information?
• Does your business allow employee access to the Internet?
• Is your network operating without firewall protection?
• Do people in your business transmit confidential information over your network?
• Has your business implemented an e-commerce strategy?
• Has your business suffered a security breach or virus attack?

If the answer to any of these questions is 'yes' then it is possible that you are susceptible to a serious security breach.

How Can We Help?

Many businesses find it difficult to allocate the time required to drive this sort of project. By using CCL as your IT Security Consultants you have access to a fully flexible resource that can work alongside your own team and bring focus to these important issues through a wide range of complementary services including:

• IT Security Policy Development
• IT Security Audit – current practices versus ISO 27001 best practice
• End-User IT Security Audit
• IT Fraud Audit
• ISO 27001 Accreditation – planning and/or implementation