Cyber Attacks on UK Organisations Surges How Can Agents Protect Their Staff And Clients?

Blog by Duwayne Lake, Operations Director of Veco™

New research* reveals that Cyber attacks on UK organisations surged 77% in 2022, with the UK education sector seeing a 237% rise in attacks, compared to 2021.* (Source: Check Point – a leader in cyber security solutions, January 2023).

UK organisations experienced an average of 788 weekly cyber attacks across 2022, marking a 77% increase from 2021. The UK also saw the highest number of cyber crime victims per million internet users at 4,783 in 2022, up 40% over 2020 figures. The country with the next highest number of victims per million internet users in 2022 was the USA, with 1,494, a 13% decrease over 2020.

Cyber attacks are increasing worldwide, with 38% more attacks per week on corporate networking in 2022 compared to 2021. The global volume also reached an all-time high in the fourth quarter of the year, with an average of 1,168 weekly attacks per organisation.

Check Point has said that this escalation is being driven predominately by smaller, more agile threat actors and sophisticated ransomware gangs, many of which targeted healthcare organisations, academic institutions, and the private sector.

This research highlights the growing severity of cyber threats in 2022. Just in December alone, eight UK cyber attacks and data breaches were reported. The most significant incident occurred at LastPass, the private equity owned password manager. Having suffered an initial breach in August 2022, LastPass announced that customer data had been breached in a related incident in early December.

Industry sources are advising that individuals change all passwords currently stored in LastPass. The harsh reality is that password vaults are now in the hands of potential attackers, who will currently be trying to crack master passwords. If your master password is easily guessable, which memorable human generated passwords can be, then there is a risk that your vault could be breached.

Hackers are also widening their aim to target business collaboration tools such as Slack, Teams, OneDrive and Google Drive with phishing exploits. These make for a rich source of sensitive data given that most organisations’ employees continue to work remotely.

Agents need to be extra vigilant and ensure they have educated their staff on the risks and have implemented the measures that will boost their protection.

Below are some ways in which agents can increase their protection from cyber crime:

Text Messages

Cyber criminals are increasingly turning to text messaging for scam and phishing attempts to gain access to your bank and other accounts, so staff should be wary and vigilant when receiving and actioning text messages

Phishing Emails

Educate staff to be aware of and alert to ‘phishing’ emails. They often come from a known contact where their email account has been breached and accessed by hackers and scammers, who will send an online link to a document asking you to enter your email address and password to ‘login’, but is in reality just sending these details onto the hackers.

Passwords & Updates

Always use strong passwords for everything, including PC access & email accounts and always use two factor authentication (2FA/MFA) where possible. Any mobiles that contain work related data should have passcodes/pattern locks or biometric locks enabled. Keep all software and operating systems, firmware and firewalls up to date.

System Access

If giving suppliers access to your servers, ensure the connections are secure. As a minimum, don’t leave any access wide open to the public internet and use methods such as restricting access by IP address, but preferably using more secure connection methods such as VPN’s. The same applies for remote workers.

Public Email Addresses

Try and avoid making company email addresses publicly available, particularly individual and senior staff email addresses. Hackers will find these on your website, or other publicly available site and then spoof the email addresses.

If you have any concerns about your IT security and would like a no obligation consultancy session with one of our cyber security experts, please email info@evolutionit.uk or call 01372 389 250.

EAN Content

Content shared by this account is either news shared free by third parties or sponsored (paid for) content from third parties. Please be advised that links to third party websites are not endorsed by Estate Agent Networking - Please do your own research before committing to any third party business promoted on our website. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

Industry reacts as Landlords to be hit with N.I tax

The Government is considering a major change to the way landlords are taxed, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves weighing up plans to apply National Insurance (NI) contributions to rental income as part of her upcoming Autumn Budget. Currently, rental income is subject to income tax but not NI. However, by expanding NI to cover this additional…
Read More
Overseas Property

Brits Are Flocking to Australia in 2025 

The end of summer is always a busy time for international moves, and 2025 is no exception. So far this year, the number of people planning to move abroad has risen by 11% compared to the first half of 2024, according to Compare My Move.  What’s changed is where Brits are choosing to go. Australia…
Read More
Breaking News

UK reports rising property market momentum

eXp UK reports rising property market momentum as sellers return and more sales are agreed The latest internal data from eXp UK has revealed that housing market momentum is continuing to build, with more homes coming to market and a greater number of sales being agreed. eXp UK analysis is based on the firm’s own…
Read More
Breaking News

Homes priced too high take twice as long to sell warns Zoopla

House price growth stabilises over summer months House price growth has slowed over recent months, although this slowdown looks to have stabilised with average house prices 1.3 per cent higher than a year ago Sales agreed are up five per cent on last year, although speculation on possible  tax changes may impact homes valued at…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Why September is the Most Expensive Month for Your Boiler

As households prepare to switch their boilers back on after summer, heating engineers are warning that September is often the most expensive month of the year for boiler breakdowns, repairs, and inefficiency. Rob Jones, heating engineer at UK Radiators, explains: “After months of being idle, boilers are suddenly put under pressure when temperatures drop in…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

What AI Can and Can’t Fix in Block Management

By Robert Poole, Director – Block Management, Glide Property Management, part of LRG In an industry increasingly shaped by regulation, rising expectations and squeezed margins, the promise of AI and automation in block management is understandably appealing. The idea of freeing property managers from repetitive tasks, improving compliance, and streamlining communication offers significant operational value.…
Read More