Over 90% of all UK organisations which employ two or more staff have experienced several digital intrusion attacks of some form in the last 12 months. Many of those organisations do not know this has happened to them and remain blissfully unaware of any malicious code lurking on their computers or online systems to this day.

What this means is the malware (malicious code) which resides on those systems may be feeding a near constant stream of valuable information to bad actors in other parts of the world. Or worse, as was experienced by NHS London on June 3rd 2024, a ransomware attack was initiated through malware which had lain dormant on the servers of Synnovis, an NHS data partner, for what experts believe may have been many months, only to be activated at a time which was most injurious to the work of the NHS and thus the lives of many patients in dire need of help.

The NHS had to be vocal about the attack as the consequences of it were far too visible for any other immediate course of action to be taken. Unfortunately, many organisations which continue to fall foul of such incidents, have not disclosed this information at all!

As a result, various entities which are vital for our infrastructure, utilities and safety are at risk of being compromised in ways which can lead directly to an instant, seismic shift in our standard of living. Whether it affects the individual, multiple institutions or the entire economy is yet to be seen, but the potential harm could be catastrophic.

So, what can be done?
Upgrade your hardware and operating systems, with urgency.

The imminent end of security updates for Windows 10 on October 14th 2025 is now common knowledge in technical circles. You can be certain that following the date, we will see a marked uptick in malicious activity resulting in significant negative outcomes all over the world.

Work with your technical experts and suppliers to ensure you have fully transitioned all your hardware and digital assets to a more secure and supported platform, be that Microsoft Windows 11, Linux or something else.

Review your cloud service providers preparedness measures as well as any co-location arrangements also. That means your web services, remotely hosted systems, WFH devices, mobile phones and onpremises units too.

Educate your staff, clients and users on digital awareness and safety, such as sensible password management, awareness of phishing emails and the risk of unauthorised devices being introduced to your network, e.g USB keys, Bring-Your-Own-Devices and so on. Understand the risk posed through internal malicious staff activity and soft skills hacking.

Zanshuri is well placed to assist you with all of the above, but don’t just take our word for it. Do your research into the emerging threat landscape and understand just what it means for you.

The world has changed. This is not the time to leave things to chance.

Don’t become one of the 90%.