UK SMEs must fortify their cybersecurity against geopolitical risks, says Espria

A recent Sky News investigation highlighted an uptick in cyberattacks tied to the Iran conflict that are targeting businesses across multiple sectors. Speaking at the NATO Summit, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urged UK businesses, regardless of size or sector, to prioritise cybersecurity and ‘take immediate steps to review and strengthen their defences.’

While the warning is timely in tone, businesses are already becoming targets of politically motivated cyberattacks, emphasising the need for heightened vigilance.

“As tensions spread globally, threat actors will continue to exploit digital vulnerabilities, and neutral businesses may be caught in the crossfire. These organisations offer low-risk targets for these cyber criminals to make an impact,” said Clinton Groome, CEO, at Espria.

“This message from the UK government warns businesses of the cyber political risk now prevalent, but the lateness in the message raises concerns over lack of proactive action and teaches an important lesson; businesses should not wait for official alerts to act. Instead, IT leaders should take a proactive stance by investing in integrated defences, educated users, and a clear strategy to prepare.”

A common weakness among businesses is human error yet cyber awareness continues to be under-emphasised. Before implementing IT upgrades and new tools, Groome urges organisations to fortify their front line of defence: the human firewall.

“Businesses must recognise that in these politically driven times, it’s not just systems under pressure – it’s people. Digitalisation tools go hand in hand with adequate cyber resilience as threat actors exploit distraction, fear, and information overload to push social engineering attacks. A recent BT study revealed that 39% of SMEs, equivalent to a staggering 2 million businesses, have not arranged cyber security training for their teams, emphasising the underprepared nature of businesses who are left dangerously exposed.

“As discussed in our recent human risk webinar, fostering cyber awareness company-wide is essential to business security. This involves resilience drills such as incident response exercises, real-world scenarios, reporting mechanisms, and most importantly, consistent reinforcement to retain the information taught. Continuous education and behaviour-focused defences can form a workforce that is both informed and aware enough to report suspicious activity.

“Combined with regular cyber measures like multi-factor authentication, regular patching, and securing IoT, businesses can create a layered defence that limits the likelihood of human error, while containing any fallout. It’s also worth noting that the end of support for Window 10 in October also presents an opportunity for the criminal fraternity as it will no longer be patched or supported and an early move to Windows 11 is recommended.

Groome continued, “Observability is also a team sport and to relieve cyber pressure on employees, businesses must prioritise integrated visibility. Integration across telemetry sources can give IT teams the ability to connect the vulnerability points across their environment from identity systems, endpoints, emails, and cloud environments. 

“Previously missed amongst the busy business network, subtle cyber indicators such as unusual logins, repeated MFA requests, or lateral movement can be identified and handled before systems are compromised. This bigger picture can give organisations the context needed to respond with precision and in short, turn siloed data into a focused threat picture that provides actionable insight.”

“Deploying and managing these tools can be complex and resource-intensive, and some businesses can find this task costly. However, external expertise or partnerships can scale telemetry integration and provide cyber training that supports a proactive defence in the face of rising geopolitical threat activity.”

Groome concluded, “The escalation of global tensions has brought focus to cybersecurity and preventing common attacks. With the right telemetry integration, training and expert support, businesses can create a layered defence that empowers employees with threat knowledge and have oversight on all business functions.”