Cybercrime is biggest threat, PCC tells businesses

PCC Donna Jones is urging companies across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to act now if they’re to protect themselves from what’s being described as ‘one of the biggest threats to UK business’.

The Police and Crime Commissioner was speaking at her Business-Focussed Cyber Event where she offered support to avoid cyberattacks as well as highlighting the financial and operational impacts that cybercrime can have.

Regional, strategic and IT security leads for companies such as NATS, Primark, B&Q, Southern Co-op, Ikea, Portsmouth International Port and Boots attended the event on Friday 21st November, hosted by PCC Donna Jones.

The event, held at Police Training HQ in Netley, Southampton during International Fraud Awareness Week, also saw the PCC fund website security assessments for all attendees, which included big brands, small independent businesses and local charities.

The scale of the threat that UK businesses now face from cybercrime has become apparent in recent months with hi-profile attacks on Jaguar Land Rover, M&S, the Co-op and Harrods.

UK attacks have halted online sales, caused massive disruption and even saw flights grounded at London Heathrow Airport, while Jaguar Land Rover suffered the most damaging hack in British history, forcing a shut-down of car production for five weeks, costing an estimated £1.9 billion.

Donna Jones was joined by Chief Constable Alexis Boon, the City of London Police Commissioner Pete O’Doherty, and representatives from the South-East Cyber Resilience Centre and Business South.

The focus was placed on how businesses get hacked and how to reduce that risk, with police data showing that around 77 businesses and charities in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight report to police that they have fallen victim to cybercrime each year.

According to the South-East Cyber Resilience Centre, 14% of UK businesses realised they needed new measures to prevent cyberattacks in the last 12 months, while only 23% had a formal cyber incident response plan in place.

They say that only 19% of staff get any kind of cyber training, despite 85% of all cyberattacks starting with phishing, while there are 3.4 billion phishing emails sent daily – of those 45% are blocked by spam filters, leaving 1.87 billion emails reaching inboxes.

Donna Jones, Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “We know that the highest type of crime reported to police is domestic violence, but the highest type of crime taking place anywhere in the UK is related to fraud and scams.

“The biggest threat of cybercrime in the UK comes either from hackers or criminal gangs, with many looking to gain money from people.

“We are now seeing massive growth in online scams which is a huge threat to the hundreds of thousands of businesses we have across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

“The profile of the perpetrators from many of these criminal groups is that of young, white males, aged 17-25, who are neurodivergent and highly intelligent. These people are trying to out-do each other and prove how clever they are. Hacking into companies has become a game between them to prove how good they are.

“Cyberattacks can happen to anyone, so I would encourage all businesses across our two counties to remain vigilant, take steps to ensure passwords are secure, use two-factor authentication and report all incidents of cybercrime to police.

“Criminals work all around the globe now, you could be committing crimes in an African country, intercepting a business right here in Hampshire, we want to stop that.

“Bringing together a big group of businesses here in Netley has been fantastic. We want less victims, we want greater detection, because the greatest thing we can do is to prevent crime happening in the first place.”

Inspector Chris White, Head of Cyber and Innovation at the South-East Cyber Resilience Centre said: “There is not one business I’ve dealt with in the South that hasn’t been affected by negative cyber events.

“Of the cyber issues reported to police, the top one is the hacking of email and social media accounts, followed by the hacking of personal accounts.

“The easiest way to protect social media and online accounts is to turn on two-step verification – ideally with an authenticator app.

“Individuals who are committing these crimes are not all doing it for the money, it’s the notoriety and kudos for them to be the hacker who achieved something and they’re showing off in their online community.

“If you plug in a brand-new laptop and connect it to the internet, I’d expect your first scan attempt to happen within 8 and a half hours.

“My advice to everyone it to think of passphrases not passwords for online accounts, try to use a mixture of three random words, if you can add in numbers and symbols, that is even better.”

Businesses who suspect they have been the victims of a scam or cyberattack can report the incident to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary by calling 101.

If you are in immediate danger, call 999.

To contact your bank’s fraud department – call 159.

To report fraudulent/scam emails – report@phishing.gov.uk

To report scam texts or calls – forward to 7726.

To report lost money or if you have been hacked www.actionfraud.police.uk

To check on safety and facilities of online platforms and games www.internetmatters.org

In addition to the main focus on cybercrime, businesses were given information about how they can improve their retail outlets battle against shoplifting with UK Partners Against Crime (UKPAC), which provides an AI led app to improve reporting by shop staff to police.