Construction business are increasingly seen as soft targets by cyber criminals and this puts thousands of UK firms at risk – have you checked your security measures lately?

Building companies are attractive targets for cyber thieves due to their typically high cash-flows, extensive use of sub-contractors and suppliers, large numbers of high value payments and their regular processing of financial information. If you store things like contracts or CAD drawings in the Cloud, you should be extra vigilant, too.

More than 80 percent of UK organisations experienced a successful cyber attack in 2021/2022 and we are seeing a worrying spike in incidences of construction firms being placed in the sights of these criminals. Many construction companies see a lot of money pass through their books, but they have often grown from small businesses – sometimes one man bands, so their security measures might not have kept pace with their growth. This is an issue that was recently acknowledged by the NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) and the Chartered institute of Building (CIOB), who produced some useful bespoke guidance aimed at SMEs, around boosting security.

Here at Uplands we have a number of clients in the construction industry who have come to us because been targeted in this way by increasingly sophisticated criminals. Making sure businesses have adequate security in place to protect their data and their operations is an integral part of what we do. A regular audit of your systems and an audit of how you are using these systems – particularly when teams do so remotely, is vital. Intellectual property is valuable to cybercriminals, as is corporate banking information, financial accounts, and employee personal data. Shutting off any potential areas of vulnerability is essential for businesses of all kinds.

To book a no-obligation audit go to: https://www.uplands.co.uk/contact-us/ and quote: “Audit” in the “I’m interested in” box.