UK Energy Sector suffered median loss of more than £25,000 in the last 12 months due to Cyber Attacks
The latest Cyber Readiness Report from international insurer Hiscox has shown that the UK energy sector is the one most vulnerable to cyber incidents with research showing that the industry lost an average of over £25,000 in the last 12 months.
Why are Energy Suppliers at risk?
The Readiness Report highlights the ongoing threat posed by hackers and organised criminals to the UK energy sector as it shows an increase in the number of firms reporting one or more cyber attacks in the survey.
Hackers were shown to have focused their efforts on three or four sectors and many large organisations. The top three sectors targeted are Technology, media and telecoms, Financial Services, and the Energy sector.
Also read: Over half of UK Energy Suppliers were targeted by hackers last year claims new report
A lack of preparation?
One of the main findings of the report was that energy suppliers are at an elevated level of risk due to a lack of preparation due to just 39% of the firms participating saying that reviewing and improving their cyber policies was a top spending priority over the next year.
It is also common among smaller businesses to have the attitude that they’re too small to be of interest to hackers. In reality this is not true as if you have something to sell then you have something to steal.
Energy suppliers hold a wealth of data that is much sought after by cyber criminals. Customer names, addresses, bank details etc are all valuable to hackers.
Also read: Busting the Cybersecurity Myths in the Energy Sector
The biggest threats
The most common point of entry for hackers was shown to be:
- Corporate owned servers (37%)
- Cloud based servers (31%)
- Company websites (29%)
- Employee error such as a phishing or spoofing (28%)
Like many other sectors, energy suppliers have had to adapt to new ways of working thanks to the restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The vast majority moved their staff to a working from home model, a move that raised a whole host of cybersecurity issues and dangers.
A spokesperson for Energy Networks Association, which represents the UK and Ireland’s energy network companies, said: “Energy network operators take cyber security extremely seriously. Our members work regularly and closely with the government and others in the industry to keep pace with emerging threats and ensure systems and data are kept secure.”
The report isn’t all doom and gloom for the UK energy sector however with it also highlighting that UK businesses are the least likely to have had an attack and were the most likely to successfully defend against one.
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