THE current construction boom in the North-west has prompted Bolton cyber security expert Dr Chris Houghton to issue a timely warning to building companies.

Dr Houghton, CEO of Eventura in Westhoughton, urged them to arm themselves against cyber attacks after one in six construction businesses had been targeted. He warned that they were “potentially vulnerable” with more than 77,000 incidents in the industry in one year alone.

“The construction industry is very traditional but over the last 30 years it has adopted an increasing number of technologies to become more agile and meet the needs of customers,” he explained.

“Many are now reliant on technology to undertake day-to-day operations with servers, laptops, PCs and mobile devices almost considered commodity items. But this change in the business landscape has also been met by an increasing number of cyber attacks and the threat changes daily.”

The construction industry is worth £110 billion per annum and contributes 7 per cent GDP. “It is, though,” added Dr Houghton, “also the second hardest hit industry for cyber attacks in the UK after the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.”

He stated that the increased use of Cloud-based services including shared project information hubs, planning software and building information modelling were also vulnerable to attack because of their accessibility through the internet.

The industry’s reliance on intellectual property such as drawings, plans and methodologies on projects and its access to modern building security systems could be compromised unless companies take specific steps.

Added Dr Houghton: “Robust technology, multi-layered cyber security practices and a well-experienced IT support team can help to prevent cyber attacks and reduce their effect on businesses should there be a cyber security breach.

“After all, there is no such thing as 100 per cent secure. But awareness and action are definitely needed if the construction industry is to move forward with confidence.”