How to build a cyber resilient business

Why is cyber resilience important for businesses today?

Cyber attacks are not just a ‘big business’ problem anymore. In fact, small and mid-sized businesses are now prime targets because attackers know they often have weaker defences. According to the UK Government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025, 43% of businesses reported experiencing a cyber breach in the past 12 months. Building a cyber resilient business is no longer optional. It’s essential to stay protected, maintain trust, and keep your operations running.

What does cyber resilience actually mean?

Cyber resilience is about your business’s ability to keep operating, even when it’s under attack. It’s not just about stopping threats; it’s about preparing, responding, and recovering quickly and effectively.

A cyber resilient business can:

• Anticipate risks
• Protect itself with smart measures
• Respond swiftly to attacks
• Recover operations with minimal downtime

Think of it like preparing for bad weather: you can’t stop the storm, but you can make sure your roof doesn’t leak, the windows stay intact, and you’ve got a backup generator ready to go.

What are the key steps to building a cyber resilient business?

You don’t need a blank cheque or a team of 50 to get this right. Start with these key building blocks:

1. Make cyber security everyone’s responsibility

• Train your team regularly with simple, relatable sessions.
• Highlight real-world threats like phishing emails and fake websites.
• Test awareness with occasional ‘spot check’ exercises.

Tip: Keep the message fresh and friendly. A bored team is a vulnerable team.

2. Protect your critical assets

• Use strong, unique passwords with multi-factor authentication (MFA).
• Encrypt sensitive data, both in transit and at rest.
• Maintain secure backups in multiple locations.

If you lost access to your systems tomorrow, what would you need first? Protect that first.

3. Monitor your systems 24/7

Cyber threats don’t clock off at 6pm. With continuous monitoring, you can spot suspicious activity early and stop an issue before it spirals.

Look for:

• Unusual login locations
• Unexpected data transfers
• Devices joining your network that shouldn’t be there

If you’re thinking, “That sounds a bit technical,” you’re right. That’s why many businesses work with trusted IT partners who handle the heavy lifting.

4. Have a clear incident response plan

Hope is not a strategy. Create a simple, step-by-step plan that covers:

• Who to call
• What to check first
• How to communicate with clients and stakeholders

Practice it. Don’t wait for a real attack to test your plan.

5. Keep systems updated

Patch, patch, patch.

• Apply updates to software, apps, and systems quickly.
• Prioritise security patches over new features.

Old, unpatched systems are like unlocked doors for cyber criminals.

6. Build relationships with cyber experts

You don’t have to do this alone. Building a relationship with a reliable, knowledgeable IT support team means you’ll always have experts on hand when you need them.

At Cloud & More, we like to say: “Leave that with me.” Because that’s what resilience feels like — knowing someone has your back.

How can you tell if your business is cyber resilient?

Here’s a quick checklist to sense-check your current situation:

If you’re seeing a lot of “No”s, don’t panic. Every “No” is simply an opportunity to make your business stronger. 

Download a cyber resiliance check list here

Key takeaways

• Cyber resilience is about bouncing back, not just blocking attacks.
• Team training, strong systems, and continuous monitoring are your best defence.
• Planning ahead means you’ll know exactly what to do if something goes wrong.
• Working with experts can lighten the load and help you stay ahead.