Content supplied by Electromech:
The Cyber Security Association is recommending swift action by other Spar franchisees and other retailers (especially small retailers with a similar supply chain structure to the Spar).
What is required first is education and information.
First to help retailers understand that cyber-attacks are being aimed at IT suppliers, Managed Services Providers (MSPs) and Software as a Service (SaaS) companies. This is because if the hackers can break into one of these they can potentially damage and ransom tens, hundreds or thousands of the customers of those companies.
Second what retailers need is information about what systems and devices they have online ( connected to networks and the Internet ) and who provides those systems and applications. Here we are researching a retailers supply chain. We know (and the hackers know) that retail stores have tens of online devices in store and they are connected to and talking to many different types of supplier. NB It is not going to be easy to confirm the cyber security or not of any individual supplier. They can say they are cyber secure but many are not even when they say they are.
Third which systems are CRITICAL to the operation of that store ? Clearly Till and Point of Sale systems are.
Fourth create a plan for what to do if those critical systems fail. This includes backup systems and alternative systems.
The first phases of this process are the first phases of the Cyber Essentials Government backed Cyber Security scheme. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) say that if businesses fully implement the 5 controls of Cyber Essentials this will stop 80% of cyber-attacks. (NB It may not stop Cyber Attack on supply chain organisations but obviously they should be doing this as well and suppliers of services to government organisations are required to have Cyber Essentials certification).
LuJam Cyber provides continuous (365 days a year, 24 hours a day) Monitoring against the Cyber Essentials standard and was developed in the GCHQ/NCSC Cyber Accelerator for this purpose.
Installation of LuJam Cyber automatically provides ALL of the information required in the first 3 stages above. Hence with that information you can make a plan. (Please note that manual counting of online devices is prone to mistakes because many online systems and activities are not known about).
After installation LuJam Cyber will continue to monitor sending SMS ( text ) and emails to notify of any changes or additions in the cyber security status. In addition a weekly report is provided which also helps with compliance.
LuJam was designed to be understood by non Cyber non Technical people but we have partners who can also provide services and support around the fundamental functionality.
Please also note that LuJam Cyber is engaged in projects to help secure supply chains by monitoring suppliers cyber security.
Contact www.electromech.co.uk [email protected] Tel - 01276 38569
