Is Your Brighton or Worthing Business Ready for a Cyberattack?

The honest answer for most businesses, in Brighton, Worthing, and across the UK, is no. They're not ready. Not because the people running them are careless or irresponsible, but because cybersecurity readiness requires deliberate effort, and most businesses haven't had a reason to prioritise it until something goes wrong.

This article is designed to give you an honest picture of what readiness actually looks like and where your business most likely falls short.

What "Ready" Actually Means

Being ready for a cyberattack doesn't mean an attacker can never get in. That's an unrealistic standard. What it means is that you've reduced your exposure to the most common attacks, you have monitoring in place to detect threats when they occur, and you have a plan for what to do when something goes wrong.

Most businesses fail on all three counts. They have default security configurations, no meaningful threat detection, and no incident response plan. When an attack happens, they're improvising.

The Self-Assessment

Work through these questions honestly. They're not designed to alarm you unnecessarily; they're designed to give you a realistic picture.

Do you know what systems and data you have?

Before you can protect something, you need to know it exists. Many businesses, particularly those that have grown organically over years, have accumulated cloud services, software subscriptions, and devices that nobody has a complete picture of. Shadow IT — tools and services used by staff without IT's knowledge — is common.

If you don't have a reasonably complete inventory of your systems, devices, and cloud services, you can't manage the security of all of them.

Is multi-factor authentication enabled for all accounts?

This is the single most impactful control you can implement. If you're running Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace without MFA enforced for all users, you are significantly exposed to account takeover. Attackers routinely use stolen credentials — obtained through phishing, data breaches, or brute force — to access business systems. MFA stops the vast majority of these attacks cold.

If the answer isn't "yes, for all users, with no exceptions," this is your most urgent gap.

When were your systems last patched?

Known, unpatched vulnerabilities are the most common technical entry point for attackers. Microsoft releases security patches every month. Many businesses are running systems that haven't been properly patched in months or years.

If you can't answer when your systems were last patched, or if your IT team's answer is "we do it when we can," you have a patch management problem.

Do you have endpoint detection and response on all devices?

Basic antivirus is not sufficient in 2025. Endpoint detection and response (EDR) monitors device behaviour in real time, identifies suspicious activity, and automatically responds to contain threats. It's the difference between discovering an attack after the damage is done and stopping it while it's happening.

If your endpoint protection is a legacy antivirus product that isn't monitored centrally, you have a gap.

Do you have a backup that has been tested recently?

Ransomware is the most common financially damaging cyberattack against SMEs. The primary protection against ransomware — other than preventing infection in the first place — is a tested, recent backup that can be restored quickly.

"We back up to an external drive" is not a sufficient answer. Backups need to be off-site or offline (so they can't be encrypted by ransomware), recent (so the data you recover is current), and tested (so you know they actually work).

When did you last test your backup recovery process? If the answer is "never" or "I'm not sure," you have a significant exposure.

Do you have email security controls configured?

Email is the primary delivery mechanism for phishing attacks, malware, and business email compromise. DMARC, DKIM, and SPF records prevent email spoofing. Anti-phishing controls in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace protect against malicious links and attachments.

Most of these controls are available within your existing licensing but require configuration. They don't come switched on by default.

Do you have an incident response plan?

If someone called you right now and told you your systems had been compromised, what would you do? Who would you call? What would you shut down? What would you preserve for forensic investigation? Who handles communications with customers, staff, and regulators?

Most businesses have no plan. They improvise. In the heat of an incident, improvisation is expensive. It leads to decisions that destroy forensic evidence, extend the recovery timeline, and increase the overall cost of the incident.

An incident response plan doesn't need to be a lengthy document. A clear set of steps, contact lists, and decision points is enough. But you need to have thought about it before the crisis.

What the Gaps Mean in Practice

Let's be direct about the risk. Brighton and Worthing businesses, like businesses everywhere, are targeted by automated attacks continuously. Attackers scan the internet for weak configurations, unpatched systems, and exposed credentials. They don't need to target you specifically; they find you because your systems are visible on the internet.

The businesses that get hit are not typically the ones that were deliberately targeted. They're the ones that had the easiest entry points. A public-facing system with a known vulnerability. An email account protected only by a password. A remote access tool with default credentials. These are the entry points that automated attacks exploit.

If you have unpatched systems, no MFA, and no endpoint detection and response, you are among the easier targets. That is a recoverable position, but only if you act before an incident occurs.

The Most Important Next Step

The businesses that are genuinely ready for a cyberattack have typically done one thing that others haven't: they've had a proper security assessment that told them where they actually stand, not where they think they stand.

Self-assessment has limits. You don't know what you don't know. A security assessment by a qualified provider will identify vulnerabilities you haven't considered, misconfigurations you weren't aware of, and gaps in your coverage that create real exposure.

We offer free security assessments for businesses in Brighton, Worthing, and across West Sussex. The assessment gives you a clear picture of your current security posture, your most significant risks, and what to prioritise. There's no obligation and no sales pressure — just an honest evaluation of where you stand.

If you've worked through this article and identified gaps, the right response is not to feel overwhelmed. It's to take the next step and find out exactly what needs to change.