Cyber Security Awareness Month

October marks a timely moment for a digital resilience refresh.

Cyber Security Awareness Month arrives as many major UK brands have hit headlines for the wrong reasons. M&S, Co-op, Harrods and Jaguar Land Rover all suffered cyber-attacks that ground their operations to a halt in recent months, with Heathrow Airport also among several major European airports to have faced significant disruption last month. 

This series of major incidents has naturally thrown the UK's cyber resilience into question, with 2025 having already become a year that will be renowned for multiple major attacks. And there is little to suggest that the focus of threat actors will ease anytime soon. 

Cybercriminals have an increasingly complex arsenal of weapons. From ransomware-as-a-service solutions that make it possible for nontechnical threat actors to execute highly sophisticated attacks at scale, to the ability of threat actors to use modern technologies to impersonate CEOs and develop convincing fake URLs, it's now harder than ever to spot and combat attack methods.

We've all seen the headlines: big brands are under siege. Yet it is important that we all understand that cyber-attacks aren't limited to large corporations. Many firms across the country are facing similar threats week in week out. In fact, the UK Government's 2025 Cyber Security Breaches Survey shows that 43% of UK businesses have faced a cybersecurity breach or attack in the last 12 months. 

Without proper preparation, cybercriminals can financially cripple companies. M&S disclosed that the hack of its systems would result in around £300 million of lost profit. In addition, it's estimated that one in five small and medium-sized businesses would be pushed into insolvency in the face of a successful cyber-attack.

Cyber Security Awareness Month provides an opportunity to confront this foreshadowing. 

Clearly, no company is safe. It's no longer a case of if but when you'll be attacked. In that context, firms must rethink their security mindset.

My advice is to adopt a paranoid approach to cybersecurity, looking at threats in a granular fashion in order to catch all the little incidents and anomalies that may otherwise be dismissed by usual detection rules. These low-fidelity alerts often lead to indications that an attack is already in process. However, this approach must be supported by the right tools and an understanding of a quickly changing threat landscape. 

Modern networks are highly connected with a vast range of different users, making it harder than ever to establish baselines of normal user behaviour. Without these baselines, detecting anomalies and in turn real-time attacks becomes significantly more challenging. Conditional access policies, bastion hosts and strong identity controls are now essential tools for limiting exposure and validating access patterns.

Endpoint security is another layer. The introduction of self-mutating viruses has compromised classical anti-virus tools. As a result, organizations must switch their attention to the application of leading endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools that can identify and respond to threats in real time.

Vulnerability management is also pivotal. Delays in patching can leave systems exposed. Therefore, firms must ensure zero-day vulnerabilities are addressed at speed. 

Each of these capabilities can be enhanced by embracing those automation and AI-led security technologies that have been specifically designed to help organisations to monitor, assess and respond to threats in real-time. Here, Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) platforms are particularly valuable, capable of correlating alerts and threat intelligence to assist with investigations. They can also automate case creation, provide analysts with guidance, and even trigger rules for containment, all of which increase the opportunity to detect a potential attack.

Now, more than ever, firms must have a coherent process in place to allow them to respond to events quickly to address risks before they turn into breaches. 

Cyber Security Awareness Month should be a catalyst for firms to place greater emphasis on improving their security posture. By focusing on improving the use of the data, tools and capabilities, firms can better support analysts in protecting the entire organisation against growing threats.