The Director General of MI5, Jonathan Evans, has warned that cyber attacks from other countries and criminals are threatening government secrets and businesses.

Speaking in response to Mr Evans’ speech, William Beer, a director in PwC’s information and cyber security practice said:

“These comments will help raise awareness at the senior executive level of the likelihood and potential damages of cyber attacks. Businesses should be operating under the presumption that an attack is likely and be ready to respond. By building resilience into their incident response and crisis management capabilities, businesses can make themselves much better prepared in the event of an attack and minimise the potential fallout.

“Cyber security is not only a technical issue, but a core business imperative. Faced with attackers who move quickly and unpredictably, organisations also need to be able to act and respond quickly and flexibly. Being prepared for a cyber attack is not just about having a good IT policy but good governance across the business. When attacked, businesses need to be able to rely on well thought through plans and respond assertively.”