Cyber risk for UK SMEs is concentrated in a small number of attack patterns. Get these five right and you cut the bulk of real-world exposure.
1. Business Email Compromise (BEC)
Attackers get into one mailbox — usually finance or an exec — and use it to redirect payments. Often no malware involved. Defence: MFA everywhere, mailbox rule monitoring, payment verification by phone.
2. Ransomware via stolen credentials
Stolen passwords (reused from a third-party breach) used to log into VPNs or RDP, then ransomware. Defence: MFA on remote access, no internet-exposed RDP, password manager + breach monitoring.
3. Supply chain compromise
A trusted supplier is breached and used as a launchpad — fake invoices, malicious updates, compromised email threads. Defence: supplier security questions in onboarding, payment change controls, DMARC at p=reject.
4. Cloud misconfiguration and data exposure
Publicly shared SharePoint folders, open S3 buckets, over-permissioned guest accounts. Defence: regular cloud configuration reviews, least-privilege defaults, alerting on external sharing.
5. Insider risk (mostly accidental)
Departing staff taking data, well-meaning staff forwarding sensitive files to personal email. Defence: DLP on email and cloud, leaver process automation, role-based access reviews.
Next step
Want to know which of these five is most exposed in your business? Book a free 30-minute review.