Warning as firms exposed to cyber attacks

The report found that more than three-quarters of global organisations are leaking data, potentially creating opportunities for cyber attackers.

However, a country-by-country analysis shows that UK based businesses are relatively well protected meaning this country does not feature in the top 10 most vulnerable nations.

Technology and software sectors are most likely to disclose information in metadata – information about a document or information on its properties – in posts to online forums and newsgroups, the report found.

Within these sectors the research found 419,430 possible company usernames that could be accessed by the public to spread across 2,000 sites.

Meanwhile 16 per cent of companies may be vulnerable to attack due to poor patching or the use of out-of-date server software on their websites.

Martin Tyley, a director in KPMG’s Northern Risk Consulting team, is calling on Yorkshire businesses to arm themselves better so they can withstand online threats.

He said: “The world of cyber security has been tilted on its axis over the past two years, from the actions of hacktivists and associated groups, through to state sponsored agencies with seemingly unlimited resources.

“Attackers have differing aims which require different levels of protection. Organised crime remains predominantly focussed on personal data, hacktivitsts on causing maximum embarrassment and state sponsored activity on gaining access to intellectual property or any commercial insight that will allow competitive advantage.

“This isn’t about installing the latest security products and hoping for the best but about educating your people, allowing secure ways of working and investing in the right technology – you need all three in combination. While it’s difficult to stop these groups, I’d like Yorkshire companies to deny them ‘open all areas’ access to their secrets which they may have unwittingly laid bare.

“Our findings send out a clear message to business – while the internet may be your shop window to the world, it can be a substantial security risk as well.”

The index, which KPMG said was the first of its kind, was based on six months of simulated cyber attack by KPMG on the websites of a number of large businesses.

The research, released yesterday, was based on the Forbes 2000 list of global companies.