1.888.900.DRIZ (3749)
The Driz Group
  • Managed Services
    • SME CyberShield
    • Web Application Security >
      • Schedule WAF Demo
    • Virtual CISO
    • Compliance >
      • SOC1 & SOC2
      • GDPR
    • Third-Party Risk Management
    • Vulnerability Assessment >
      • Free Vulnerability Assessment
  • About us
    • Testimonials
    • Meet The Team
    • Resources
    • In the news
    • Careers
    • Subsidiaries
  • Contact
    • Newsletter
  • How WAF Works
  • Blog
  • Managed Services
    • SME CyberShield
    • Web Application Security >
      • Schedule WAF Demo
    • Virtual CISO
    • Compliance >
      • SOC1 & SOC2
      • GDPR
    • Third-Party Risk Management
    • Vulnerability Assessment >
      • Free Vulnerability Assessment
  • About us
    • Testimonials
    • Meet The Team
    • Resources
    • In the news
    • Careers
    • Subsidiaries
  • Contact
    • Newsletter
  • How WAF Works
  • Blog

Cybersecurity Blog

Thought leadership. Threat analysis. Cybersecurity news and alerts.

8/11/2017

0 Comments

UK Organizations Could Face Huge Fines for Poor Cyber Security

 
UK Cyber Security

UK Organizations Could Face Huge Fines for Poor Cyber Security

Organizations offering essential services in the energy, transport, water, health and digital infrastructure sector play a vital role in our society. Loss of service as a result of an essential organization’s failure to implement effective cyber security measures affects not only the organization itself but the society as a whole.
 
For this reason, the UK Government proposes that an essential organization that fails to implement effective cyber security measures could be fined as much as £17 million or 4% of its annual global turnover, whichever is higher. The UK Government also proposes similar penalties for loss of data as a result of failure to implement effective cyber security measures.
 
Under the UK Government’s proposal, organizations are required to do the following:
​
  • Develop a strategy and policies to identify and manage risk;
  • Implement security measures to stop cyber attacks or system failures such as measures to detect cyber attacks, develop security monitoring and raise the cyber security awareness and training of staff;
  • Report incidents as soon as they happen; and
  • Have systems in place to guarantee that service can be restored quickly and data can be recovered soon after any event.
 
UK Minister for Digital Matt Hancock said in a statement that the fines would be applied as a last resort. Hancock said that fines won’t apply to organizations that have taken appropriate cyber security measures but still suffered an attack.
 
“We want the UK to be the safest place in the world to live and be online, with our essential services and infrastructure prepared for the increasing risk of cyber attack and more resilient against other threats such as power failures and environmental hazards,” UK Minister for Digital said.

EU Cyber Laws

​The proposal of the UK Government to subject organizations with huge fines for loss of service and loss of data is in line with 2 of EU’s cyber security laws: 1) Security of Network and Information Systems (NIS) Directive; and 2) General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

NIS Directive

The NIS Directive was adopted by the European Parliament on 6 July 2016. EU’s member states have until 9 May 2018 to adopt the directive into domestic legislation. A few days after the directive was passed by the European Parliament – specifically on 23 June 2016 – the people in the UK voted to leave the European Union.
 
 “Until exit negotiations are concluded, the UK remains a full member of the European Union and all the rights and obligations of EU membership remain in force,” the UK Government said in the document called “NIS Directive: pre-consultation impact assessment” (PDF). “It is the UK Government’s intention that on exit from the European Union this legislation [NIS Directive] will continue to apply in the UK.”
 
The NIS Directive specifically requires operators of essential services (energy, transport, banking, financial market infrastructures, health, water and digital infrastructure), whether private or public entities, to take the following appropriate cyber security measures:
  • Preventing risks – defined under the directive as technical and organizational measures that are appropriate and proportionate to the risk;
  • Ensuring security of network and information systems – defined as measures that ensure the level of security of network and information systems is appropriate to the risks; and
  • Handling incidents – defined as measures that prevent and minimize the impact of cyber attack or system failure incidents.

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)

​The GDPR was adopted by the European Parliament a few months before the adoption of the NIS Directive in April 2016. Unlike the NIS Directive, the GDPR doesn’t need an enabling legislation from EU member states. This means that this particular EU law will take effect after a two-year transition period, specifically it’ll be in force in May 2018 in all of EU member states.
 
When the GDPR takes effect in May 2018, organizations in all of EU member states can be fined a maximum €20 million or 4% of annual global turnover, whichever is bigger, for data breach.
 
The difference between the NIS Directive and the GDPR, according to UK Minister for Digital Matt Hancock, is that the NIS Directive relates to loss of service, while loss of data falls under the GDPR.
 
According to the “NIS Directive: pre-consultation impact assessment” document, the UK Government said that the GDPR will replace UK’s existing Data Protection Act in May 2018. “It is expected that the GDPR will bring about an improvement to organisations security measures to protect personal data due to the significant fines that can be given for data breaches, and also because guidance will be provided on the level of security required to comply with the regulation,” the UK Government said.

Companies Penalized under UK’s Data Protection Act for Poor Cyber Security

​On 5 October 2016, UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued telecom company TalkTalk a £400,000 fine for cyber security failings that allowed a cyber attacker to access the company’s customer data “with ease”.
 
The data breach on TalkTalk, which happened between 15 and 21 October 2015 accessed the personal data of 156,959 customers including their names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. The TalkTalk attacker was also able to access 15,656 bank account details and sort codes.
 
The ICO – UK government body that has the power under the Data Protection Act to impose a monetary penalty of up to £500,000 on a UK company for data breach – found that the TalkTalk attacker used a common technique known as SQL injection to access the data. “SQL injection is well understood, defences exist and TalkTalk ought to have known it posed a risk to its data,” the ICO investigation found.
 
“Yes hacking is wrong, but that is not an excuse for companies to abdicate their security obligations,” ICO Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said. “TalkTalk should and could have done more to safeguard its customer information. It did not and we have taken action.”
 
On 27 June 2017, Berkshire-based Boomerang Video Ltd was fined £60,000 by the ICO for failing to take basic steps to stop its website from being attacked. The video game rental firm’s website was attacked in 2014 in which 26,331 customer details could be accessed. Similar to the TalkTalk attack, the attacker used the SQL injection to access the data.

Learn more and let us help you become compliant using proven, practical approach.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Steve E. Driz, I.S.P., ITCP

    Picture
    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    June 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015

    Categories

    All
    0-Day
    2FA
    Access Control
    Advanced Persistent Threat
    AI
    AI Security
    Artificial Intelligence
    ATP
    Awareness Training
    Blockchain
    Botnet
    Bots
    Brute Force Attack
    CASL
    Cloud Security
    Compliance
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    Cryptocurrency
    Cyber Attack
    Cyberattack Surface
    Cyber Awareness
    Cybercrime
    Cyber Espionage
    Cyber Insurance
    Cyber Security
    Cybersecurity
    Cybersecurity Audit
    Cyber Security Consulting
    Cyber Security Insurance
    Cyber Security Risk
    Cyber Security Threats
    Cybersecurity Tips
    Data Breach
    Data Governance
    Data Leak
    Data Leak Prevention
    Data Privacy
    DDoS
    Email Security
    Endpoint Protection
    Fraud
    GDPR
    Hacking
    Impersonation Scams
    Incident Management
    Insider Threat
    IoT
    Machine Learning
    Malware
    MFA
    Microsoft Office
    Mobile Security
    Network Security Threats
    Phishing Attack
    Privacy
    Ransomware
    Remote Access
    SaaS Security
    Social Engineering
    Supply Chain Attack
    Supply-Chain Attack
    Third Party Risk
    Third-Party Risk
    VCISO
    Virtual CISO
    Vulnerability
    Vulnerability Assessment
    Web Applcation Security
    Web-applcation-security
    Web Application Firewall
    Web Application Protection
    Web Application Security
    Web Protection
    Windows Security
    Zero Trust

    RSS Feed

Picture

1.888.900.DRIZ (3749)

Managed Services

Picture
SME CyberShield
​Web Application Security
​Virtual CISO
Compliance
​Vulnerability Assessment
Free Vulnerability Assessment
Privacy Policy | CASL

About us

Picture
Testimonials
​Meet the Team
​Subsidiaries
​Contact us
​Blog
​
Jobs

Resources & Tools

Picture
​Incident Management Playbook
Sophos authorized partner logo
Picture
© 2025 Driz Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Photo from GotCredit