Fake News Is A Cybesecurity Threat For Businesses
Speaking ahead of The Telegraph Cyber Security conference, Chris Taylor, CIO, The Telegraph shares his perspective on the challenges faced by a national media brand, and the reputational damage a breach of security could cause.
As a media brand, there are two cyber security threats that we face, and they are persistent attacks.
The first is the general threat of data theft, phishing and ransomware that all companies face regardless of their industry.
The second is from hacktivist groups that target media brands with the aim of taking over consumer-facing media properties to promote their messages and agenda.
A third, newly emergent threat presents itself, and that is fake news circulating in the broader publishing ecosystem.
We have always prided ourselves on the quality of our sources and fact checking, and the need for accuracy has never been greater. That is what premium publishers like The Telegraph are for.
One of the most important elements of cyber security is clear leadership and the communication of best practice to employees. As technology and cyber defences have become more sophisticated, people have become the easiest way into an organisation.
We need to educate but we need to do it in a way that is engaging. Far too many cyber communications are either too technical or designed to terrify. People don't respond well to that.
Communications need to be clear, in plain English and, crucially, they need to be in a context that makes sense and resonates with people’s day-to-day lives. It is also crucial that companies are 'appropriately secure'. That means making sure they understand macro threats and local industry threats.
It means investing as much as is affordable. It means tightening controls but not so that they affect business practices. It means being realistic. Breaches may happen so they need to be ready to respond to them.
To stay abreast of the latest threat developments and intelligence, we work closely with security vendors, insight organisations and government departments like the NCSC.
We collaborate closely with our peers in the industry. We find sharing experience and perspective particularly useful in an industry context. The NCSC have made a good start facilitating cross-industry collaboration. It will be great to see that develop in the coming years.
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