The UK has 'a long way to go' to be cyber secure - MP

Government survey finds that over two thirds of FTSE 350 companies are not trained to deal with attacks

The government has warned that the UK has "a long way to go" before its cybersecurity pedigree is up to scratch, after research found that two thirds of FTSE 350 executives are not trained to deal with an attack.

The survey, conducted by KPMG on behalf of the government, found that 68 per cent of board members at the UK's 350 biggest companies have received no training to deal with cyber incidents, despite over half saying that the threat of a cyber attack is a top risk for their business.

The government's minister for digital, Matt Hancock, said: "These new reports show we have a long way to go until all our organisations are adopting best practice and I urge all senior executives to work with the National Cyber Security Centre and take up the government's advice and training."

The government, however, pointed out cause to be optimistic, with 53 per cent of businesses claiming they are putting cybersecurity measures in place, up from 33 per cent last year.

Oz Alashe, CEO of cybersecurity training platform CybSafe, claimed that UK firms need to overhaul their approach to training if they are to increase the adoption of best practices in their workforce.

"Businesses need to announce the death of IT training manuals when it comes to cybersecurity. They must move away from IT security awareness training being a box-ticking exercise to a more immersive experience that can actually make a difference in an employee's behaviour," he said.

"For example, repeated regular input has proved to be more effective than large dumps of information, so an engaging weekly training exercise that takes 10 minutes to complete will be more effective than a cyber awareness course lasting half a day, completed every six months.

"This behavioural science approach to cybersecurity could prove vital in ensuring lasting and productive engagement on data security issues from the entire C-suite."

GDPR

The government also highlighted the encouraging response to survey questions regarding General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), with 97 per cent of respondents saying they are aware of the impending legislation.

However, just 13 per cent said GDPR was a regular topic of conversation in board meetings, with only six per cent claiming to be fully prepared for the May 2018 implementation date.