Cyber Crime Statistics Your Charity Should Know

According to research by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, cyber security breaches are a massive threat to businesses in the UK.

Charities are at risk too!

As one middle-income charity commented in the research: “We're always hanging on by our finger tips in financial terms, and I think that really prevents us investing in the time it takes to address cyber security in a strong way."

For many charities, spending on cyber security often falls much lower on the list of priorities than spending directly on their core mission and goals. However, the data shows that charities are under threat, and we believe that managed IT services offer a reliable and powerful resource for charities.

We've sifted through the statistics and pulled out some of the most surprising ones pertaining to charities.

1) 22% of charities identified a cyber security breach or attack in the last 12 months.

Amongst those charities identifying a breach or attack:

• 81% reported phishing attacks as the most common type
• 29% needed new measures to prevent future attacks
• 32% took up staff time dealing with breaches or attacks
• 21% had staff stopped from carrying out daily work
• 39% identified at least one breach or attack per month

Clearly, understanding some email best practices is essential for charities and their staff.

2) The average annual cost of a data breach where a charity lost data or assets is £9,470. That's twice the amount of the average cost for businesses!

3) 32% have done a cyber risk assessment in the last 12 months, which is a 12% increase compared to 2018.

But this still means that 68% of UK charities have not evaluated their preparedness for a cyber attack. However, making decisions about your cyber strategy without enough information can feel a bit like walking in the dark without a torch!

This is how a consultation with a managed IT security provider can be incredibly helpful. With expertise on the latest technologies to secure your network, they can also help your organisation to create a more comprehensive IT security strategy and a cyber security incident management process.

You'll gain confidence that your charity can quickly recover from an attempted breach and your team members will be clear on the process for who to alert and what to do if they suspect a breach has occurred.

5) 30% of charities have a board member or trustee with a specific responsibility for cyber security.

The study suggests that that embedding knowledge and understanding of cyber security within management boards is a strong driver of behaviour change. Although many C-suite executives want to be involved in decisions about cyber security, they are willing to admit that they only know the basics. Be sure to consult with specialists in IT Security and designing powerful cloud environments.

6) 61% of charities say that staff in their organisation regularly use a personal device such as a non-work laptop for business purposes (BYOD).

While this is an effective and practical way to avoid expensive hardware investments, each of those devices represent tens or hundreds of entry points for cyber criminals to sneak into your IT systems.

Consider endpoint security, which works in tandem with your existing security systems to help you:

• vet new devices
• monitor connectivity
• encrypt data
• whitelist certain applications
• successfully block any harmful activity

7) For 70% of charities, the most disruptive breaches were reported directly by staff, contractors or volunteers.

Security Awareness Training is one way to help everyone in your organisation understand the threats posed by cyber crime, not only trustees. This kind of training relies on real-life scenarios. It 'borrows' from the tactics used by real hackers, including simulations of phishing emails and tips to help you spot suspicious files or activity on your system.