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When people hear the term ‘cyber attack’, they often picture something out of a tv show or movie. Screens going black, alarms blaring, businesses crumbling in minutes, and so on. In reality, cyber attacks don’t play out like this. While some attacks, such as the WannaCry ransomware attack on the NHS, have certainly come close to these levels, the majority of attacks tend to unfold quietly, often going unnoticed for days, weeks or months, and have devastating effects long before anyone even realises that something is amiss.
For businesses of all sizes, especially those without dedicated security teams, understanding what a cyber attack can actually look like, and how compliance with security standards can reduce risk, is key to staying protected. Unfortunately, as the global economy sinks more and more into the digital world, the question of suffering an attack is no longer an “if”, but “when.”
A Typical Attack
The majority of cyber attacks will start with something incredibly mundane, such as a well-crafted phishing email made to look like a legitimate message from a supplier or work colleague. A user clicks the link, enters their details onto a fake site, and suddenly an attacker has access to your systems.
Once inside, they don’t usually act immediately. Instead, attackers will begin probing your internal systems for weaknesses like unpatched servers, insecure cloud storage, shared admin accounts, or exposed databases. They may deploy additional malware, often custom-built to avoid detection by standard antivirus software. Their goal is to establish a foothold in your systems, ensuring they can maintain access even if you discover the initial entry point.
In more targeted attacks, the attacker may seek out specific information such as confidential documents, financial systems, or personal data that can be quietly exfiltrated. In other cases, the aim is to cause as much havoc as possible by encrypting files, locking out users, and demanding payment in ‘ransomware’ attacks. These types of attacks are becoming increasingly common because they’re often very profitable, especially against organisations that lack strong backups or a defined recovery plan.
Modern attacks aren’t always isolated to the digital world. Social engineering is another incredibly popular tactic amongst cyber criminals. Calling a staff member and pretending to be IT support, building a friendship with an employee over a long period of time to gain trust, or even physically visiting an office and asking for access to the Wi-Fi. Others may also look to the supply chain of a business and target vendors and partners to try and find a weak point.
What makes a cyber attack so dangerous is the subtlety. By the time an attack becomes obvious the damage is already done. The attacker may have been present in your systems for days, even weeks, meaning that any efforts to bring systems back online, decrypt systems, or restore from backups, can be made much more difficult.
Attacks like these happen every day, and the reason that they are often so effective is because the basic of security are often overlooked, and give the attackers an entry point that should never have existed in the first place.
The Real Cost of an Attack
The most immediate damage of a cyber attack is often painfully clear. Systems going offline, operations grinding to a halt, employees being locked out, and customers left unable to access services. But what many businesses may not fully appreciate is how far the impact can stretch, and how long it can last.
Operational disruption is usually the primary and most visible problem. In the case of ransomware for example, files are encrypted and rendered inaccessible until a ransom is paid (and even this isn’t a guarantee). Customer portals stop functioning, orders can’t be processes, emails are unable to send, even internal communications could be impacted. For businesses that depend on keeping their services online at all times, every hour offline comes with measurable and significant financial cost.
Beyond the technical and logistical fallout, data loss, or the exposure of sensitive information can have severe legal and reputational implications. If personal data such as customer information, staff records, or payments details are stolen, businesses are often legally required to report the incident to regulators like the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). Under GDPR and other data protection laws, this can result in large fines, especially if it is determined that the breach could have been prevented, or was made worse by negligence. Insurers may also raise premiums or deny future cover, investors may start reconsidering their portfolio, and for smaller businesses, the culmination of all these factors can risk survival.
But often, the most lasting damage is to your reputation. Customers are becoming increasingly privacy-conscious, and many won’t continue to purchase from, or work with, a company that they believe has mishandled their data. News of a breach can spread quickly, especially if high-profile brands are involved (such as the recent M&S cyber attack). While this damage is not as immediately noticeable in the same way systems going offline may be, lost confidence and trust in a brand often causes more damage than the initial attack.
To summarise, the cost of a cyber attack goes far beyond the initial ransom demand or the cost of restoring your systems to working order. It impacts your ability to operate, your relationship with your customers, your financial stability, and potentially your future growth.
How Compliance Helps
This is where security compliance frameworks enter the picture. Not as a guarantee that you won’t be attacked, but rather as a practical way to reduce your risk and improve how you respond to attacks.
Well known security standards such as Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001, and SOC 2 all require businesses to address common weaknesses that attackers exploit. They require businesses to keep systems patched, enforce strong password policies, restrict admin access, back up critical data, and train staff to recognise threats.
Additionally, compliance frameworks also introduce structure. They ensure that you have an incident response plan. That you have considered business continuity. That you understand where you sensitive information lives, and how you are going to protect it. This structure enables businesses to respond quickly, effectively, and most importantly, calmly when something goes wrong, rather than running around without a plan.
While being compliant with one or multiple standards won’t stop every attack, it will dramatically reduce the number of open vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit. It also demonstrates to customers, partners, and regulators that you take security seriously.
Automating Compliance with OneClickComply
Achieving compliance may sound like a daunting task, especially if you are already stretched for resources, or looking to meet a complex standard such as ISO 27001. This is where OneClickComply can help.
Rather than manually tracking security setting or copying and pasting from policy templates, OneClickComply automates the entire process. The platform connects to your systems, such as Microsoft 365, AWS or Google Workspace, and allows you to instantly implement the required security controls and settings for standards such as Cyber Essentials, SOC 2, CIS, and ISO 27001, in only a single click. The platform can also generate policies that accurately reflect your security approach, and the continuous monitoring feature ensures that, once implemented, your controls remain in place, with alerts for any drift or sudden non-compliance.
This means that compliance becomes something that can be easily integrated into day-to-day operations, rather than a massive resource and time sink once a year.
Final Thoughts
Cyber attacks happen constantly, and more often than not, they succeed because of simple missteps such as unpatched software, weak password, misconfigured account, or even human error. But with the right controls in place, these problems can be mitigated and prevented.
Compliance isn’t just about passing an audit, or even getting a certificate to display on your website. It’s about making sure that you are always operating in the most secure way, and protecting yourself, your clients, and your stakeholders.
With the help of OneClickComply, achieving and maintaining compliance doesn’t have to be difficult or disruptive. In fact, it can be one of the most significant steps that you take towards securing your business.
