As Covid-19 has swept through the world, the general public have found themselves having to remain indoors and work from home. Here in the UK, our government brought in the furlough scheme. Wherein some workers, depending on their employers, could be placed in a hibernation-like state. The government have generously paid 80% of their wages as long as they stay at home, and refrain from doing work for the company.
Many workers on this scheme have found themselves with plenty of free time. Although a good percentage have binged their favourite TV shows, movies and video games; a large proportion have looked inwards at any missing skills or talents they may be missing. Allowing them to branch out and try new activities.
Although many workers are furloughed, the employees who are still working have to do so from home if possible. This means communication across team members and work done has to all be online. This has increased activity across the web, including an abundance of sensitive data being shared. Data that would prove to be very valuable to those looking to access it through unscrupulous means. However, we have talented individuals looking to stop these attacks, performing under the banner of cyber security.
What is cyber security?
Throughout the past couple of decades, our society has adopted the internet for personal and corporate use exponentially. However, as our online presence and tools become more advanced, so too do the individuals and tools looking to steal this data and information. Many of the largest companies have experienced large data breaches in one form of another. With some losing billions of revenues as a result. So, it quickly became apparent there would have to be dedicated software and individuals to combat these rising cases of online espionage. This quickly became what is known today as Cyber Security.
Cyber security has proven to be an extremely lucrative business. Seeing as there are potentially billions to be lost through hacking online; the top companies are willing to invest vast amounts of resources into cyber security, so they will never find themselves in a less than ideal position. Nevertheless the world of cyber security is a complicated beast. One that needs its defenders to be constantly updating their knowledge and skills to keep ahead of the ones they’re trying to stop. Really, the whole ecosystem of cyber security is a never-ending race. One where the only goal is to keep ahead of your opponent.
The new wave of defenders
Now this brings us back to what this blog is all about. To get into the business of cyber security, one would need to put the time and effort in to learn all the fine details of networks, hacking techniques, and preventative measures. To juggle this and a full time job is no easy task. However, with our government creating the furlough scheme; many people suddenly found that they had this free time. And seeing how most of the general public has a home computer; a proportion of these furloughed workers looked to dip their toes within Cyber Security.
Cyber security and imployable
We here at imployable know how important it is to have someone dedicated to this role. Our work and company is primarily online-based, and it would prove disastrous for us if our systems were broken into a sabotaged. That’s why one of the first few positions we hired for would be dedicated towards this. Luckily, we found Finn, who has taken on the role of Information Systems Security Officer. His hard work and perseverance has been noticed throughout the company, and he has revealed how many attempted attacks we receive on a daily basis. This past year, we have had over 1.6 million attempts to access our data, from across the world. All of which have been prevented thanks to Finn and the systems he has put into place. It was when I learned of this that I realised how important cyber security is.
Our Information Systems Security Officer Finn in his new office, along with his assistant ‘branch’ manager Chase!
Where to learn about the cyber world
If cyber security is something you, or an employee, would like to learn about and pursue a career in; we’ve been partnered up with Bluescreen IT for a while and can vouch for them. They’ve delivered many courses successfully to a range of clients, with one of these clients being our CEO Pete Kelly. Although our company has Finn, who is constantly vigilante and dedicated to stopping any attacks; we believe it’s extremely important to be personally aware of what goes on behind the scenes. The more employees that are aware of the dangers and executions of cyber-attacks, the less likely a mistake will occur due to negligence.
Your company and cyber security
As of writing this blog, our government has been tirelessly sending out vaccines across the country. The general morale is hopeful that we’ll be leaving this pandemic in the near future and can return to normality. Nonetheless, our online presence will drop, but not by a wide margin. However, this era has proven to many companies that we do not necessarily need to be in an office to work. Thus the demand for cyber security will only increase as we move on from this trying period. Make sure that you and your company are well equipped to deal with any potential invisible threats from hackers across the world, and start investing your resources to make sure you stay protected against any cyber-attacks.
