Charities 'more prone' to cyber attacks, says expert

IT | Kirsty Weakley | 28 Jun 2012

Charities are more to vulnerable cyber attacks than some other organisations, claims William Beer, a director in information and cyber security practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Responding to the director general of MI5 Jonathan Evans’ warning that cyber attacks were threatening government, Beer said: “Businesses should be operating under the presumption that an attack is likely and be ready to respond.”

He told civilsociety.co.uk that: “Because of what they do charities are probably more prone to potential cyber attacks from hactivists.”

Earlier this year the British Pregnancy Advisory Service’s website was hacked by an individual opposed to abortion, in what the charity described as, “the sort of attack organisations like the Pentagon have seen”.

Beer explained that cyber attacks could be broken down into five main categories:

Financial
Espionage
Activism/hacktivism
Terrorism
Warfare

As well as the threat of hactivists, many charities take donations online are also at risk of financial attacks, said Beer.

Answer is about more than technology

All organisations should be treating cyber security as “not only a technical issue, but a core business imperative” Beer said.

Adding that: “Being prepared for a cyber attack is not just about having a good IT policy but good governance across the business.”

He said PWC uses the Plest approach to cyber security which stands for, political, legal, economic, social and technical.

Directory: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

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