Tightening the grip on data and systems this European Cybersecurity Month

By David Mills, Chairman,Ricoh Europe

Ricoh Europe, London, 22 September 2022 – There have been many things to skyrocket up the business agenda in recent years. Cybersecurity has certainly kept up with the pack or (as I believe it should for all businesses) occupied a top spot.

Today’s business leaders are increasingly aware of all matters ransomware and malware related. They have to be.

October is European Cybersecurity Month – the EU’s annual campaign to highlight the importance of digital security and cyber hygiene. For the tenth year in succession, it will serve as a call to remain wary of attempted breaches and unauthorised access. It is also a reminder to ensure basic everyday best practice behaviours, such as locking workstations and making passwords as difficult to guess as possible.

Data from ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, shows how criminals continue to use the pandemic to ramp up their efforts. For example, there have been more than 10 million Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks preventing users of a network or system from accessing relevant information or services, due to COVID-19. But fraudsters and hackers are not the only threat. Around half of non-malicious threats are actually caused by misconfiguration, including human error and physical damage to IT infrastructures. This puts the onus on business leaders to establish a robust long-term commitment to ensuring the safety and integrity of their data and systems.

During October at Ricoh Europe, we will once again embark on an internal campaign to help ensure our people remain vigilant of cybersecurity threats – from the obvious to the well-masked. This activity complements our ongoing training and initiatives which benefit of our company, customers and people. 

Security really is part of our DNA at Ricoh. It comes as standard in every product and service by design. This includes RICOH RansomCare powered by BullWall – an agentless solution that detects ongoing criminal encryption and file corruption before triggering a response to isolate and disable the compromised device while encrypting data.

Security also forms a key part of our growth strategy, both organically and through the acquisitions we make. This includes the acquisition of MTI Technology, who help thousands of organisations to transforms their IT operations by leveraging the latest technologies, reducing operating costs, and becoming more flexible while mitigating risk.

In a world of urgent requirements and pressing issues, business leaders simply cannot afford to loosen their grip when it comes to cybersecurity. The repercussions of a single slip can prove irreversible, devastating the business and its customers. I have no doubt that European Cybersecurity Month will bring a stark and welcomed reminder of this.

You can access a range of cybersecurity guidance and resources from Ricoh Europe here.