David Smith said that Uinsure is one of the firms that has invested in this area.
Finance and insurance firms have invested the most on cyber security between 2018 and 2019, insurance provider Hiscox has found.
This was at an average of £22,050, a 23% increase from figures seen between 2017 and 2018.
David Smith, chief innovation officer at Uinsure, said: “We’ve got a new expert in our firm. We recognise there is a definite more threat and are building a whole team around it.
“In the last 12 months you’ve had programmable logic controllers (PLCs) being hacked and the change in the regulation so now fines can be hundreds of millions of pounds. It’s global revenue based. The fines can wipe businesses out.
“The new regulations around cyber security mean you have to inform The Information Commission Office if there is a breach and if found that the reason for the breach is your own fault, there is no limit to the size of the fine.
“If you have a poor practice of updating operating software and data is not secure or for example, you leave a laptop and USB key with thousands of records on, it breaches your own negligence and can get you into serious trouble these days.
“With financial services firms the data they hold of customers is huge. It’s their income, expenditure, it’s the goldust of data.
“I think my mortgage broker knows everything about me, all my debt and income. They hold incredibly rich and sensitive data, so they need to make sure they’re secure.”
Darren James, a cyber security expert from Specops Software, added: “As cyber-attacks/breaches become more frequent and complex, cyber-security has to be a high priority for firms.
“Otherwise they face the huge risk of leaving their website and digital communication platforms exposed to devasting cyber-attacks/breaches.
“So key decision makers need to carefully understand and manage their online eco-system to ensure it consistently has the adequate defenses in place to protect against varying cyber threats.
“In addition to this, education as well as governance on cyber security for employees can play an essential role in protecting critical functions from being targeted or compromised.”
