Businesses should be vigilant for cyber attacks due to situation with Russian and Ukraine

C3IA Solutions, a leading cyber-security company Dorset, said cyber-attacks on companies are a real and growing threat.

Those businesses that supply to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) or the government are particularly at risk.

Russia has been accused of orchestrating a number of cyber-attacks, including on the Ukrainian power grid and on their banks and official websites.

Jim Hawkins of C3IA Solutions said: “Cyber-attacks do not respect international boundaries and the risk of overspill, intentional or not, is why the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has said that the UK’s cyber risk has been heightened.

“The NCSC and the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) have warned organisations to review their cyber-security resilience.

“Having Cyber Essentials certification is always something we’d recommend as a basic level of security.

• READ MORE: Russia's 'invasion of Ukraine has begun' on 'very dark day for Europe'

“But there are other things businesses can do to improve their business resilience. All systems should be patched, especially those with vulnerabilities that are known to have been exploited, critical services should be backed up and incident response plans tested for functionality.

Jim Hawkins of C3IA Solutions (Image: C3IA Solutions)

“Multi-factor authentication should be implemented, and we’d recommend that businesses follow the NCSC guidance on password management.

“Educating staff about the risks and how to recognise them is also an important step.

“How to identify suspect emails and how social media and business networking platforms can be used by attackers are something that should be explained to staff."

Paul Chichester, NCSC Director of Operations, said: “While we are unaware of any specific cyber threats to UK organisations in relation to events in Ukraine, we are monitoring the situation closely and it is vital that organisations follow the guidance to ensure they are resilient.”