UK government introduces £17m fine for having poor cyber security

Spencer Young, RVP EMEA at Imperva, commented: “While this is a welcome intervention from the UK’s government to attempt to provide severe financial consequences for not taking cyber security seriously, it could be said that this state intervention represents a little too much of the stick, and not enough of the carrot.

"By focusing on the severity of the fines, we lose sight of the fact that there are better reasons than fines to have a comprehensive cyber security policy in place.

"Cyber crime can have devastating effects on both individuals and businesses, and having a strategy in place to keep your applications and data safe should be a priority for any business.

"A culture of preventative cyber security measures should be fostered to protect the businesses and remove the pipeline that cyber crime creates for other criminal enterprises down the line.”