LONDON, UK: Incidents of the breach that have been revealed in the last 24 hours by Talk Talk, where millions of customer’s details have been stolen and were left unencrypted, according to the company, is negligent and unforgivable. Encrypting customer’s data is one of the most basic processes you can do to protect customers’ privacy. As Dido Harding CEO of TalkTalk said this morning in an interview with LBC’s Nick Ferrari “going forward I, like every other Chief Executive, will be spending more money and more time on cyber-security because it is the number one risk.”
Incidences like the breach at TalkTalk are all too common place and on the increase – it’s the reason Security Serious week has been launched, and will kick off next week with 70 of the UK’s most experienced cyber-security experts getting together in solidarity for a photo call (see details below) to show they are standing together to encourage UK Plc to take Security Seriously and make the Internet a safer place to trade online. They will all be offering their time and expertise for free through webinars, seminars and drop in Q & A’s throughout the week.
Yvonne Eskenzi, organiser of Security Serious Week, which kicks off next week said: “Cyber attacks, like the one suffered by TalkTalk, are just going to increase in severity and frequency. TalkTalk is just the latest in a long line of companies who've been targeted and come up short - Carphone Warehouse, Experian, these are huge companies struggling to keep the hackers out of their databases. I firmly believe that the only way we're going to be able to prevent these incidents is to stop working in silos and come together to share expertise and experiences to make the internet a safe place to trade on line. That's why I'm spear heading next week's Security Week - a week long timetable of conferences, workshops, training sessions and webinars, all free of charge, starting on Monday aimed at educating users in a number of security disciplines – presenting by dozens of the UK’s top cyber-security experts. Security Serious is all about those that can’t, learning from those that can – it’s simple really. Leading experts conveying their words of wisdom and industry best practices to those people and organisations who want to become more security savvy.”
Security Serious has attracted a number of high-profile supporters from the UK’s leading businesses, universities, associations and government bodies - including: Unilever, BT, HP Security Voltage, Channel 4, Canon UK, HSBC, Publicis Groupe, GlaxoSmithkline as well as many of the world’s leading IT security vendors.