BUSINESSES have been warned to be extra vigilant about cyber security after Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine pitted it against the western powers.

Poole-based C3IA Solutions warned cyber-attacks on UK companies were a real and growing threat.

It said businesses which supply the Ministry of Defence or the government are particularly at risk.

Russia was accused of orchestrating a number of cyber-attacks on Ukraine before the invasion, including on its power grid, its banks and official websites.

Jim Hawkins of C3IA Solutions, which was one of the first companies certified by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said: “Cyber-attacks do not respect international boundaries and the risk of overspill, intentional or not, is why the NCSC has said that the UK’s cyber risk has been heightened.

“The NCSC and the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) have warned organisations to review their cyber-security resilience.

“Having Cyber Essentials certification is always something we’d recommend as a basic level of security. But there are other things businesses can do to improve their business resilience.

“All systems should be patched, especially those with vulnerabilities that are known to have been exploited, critical services should be backed up and incident response plans tested for functionality.

“Multi-factor authentication should be implemented, and we’d recommend that businesses follow the NCSC guidance on password management.

“Educating staff about the risks and how to recognise them is also an important step."

Internet security business Eset, whose UK headquarters is in Bournemouth, said yesterday that a number of Ukraine organisations had been hit by malware, shortly after several key websites were knocked offline.

Boris Johnson said yesterday that Britain “cannot and will not just look away” from Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and pledged to unite with allies to respond with a massive package of sanctions designed to “hobble the Russian economy”.

“This act of wanton and reckless aggression is an attack not just on Ukraine, it’s an attack on democracy and freedom in eastern Europe and around the world,” Mr Johnson said in a televised address.

He said the Russian president had “unleashed war in our European continent”, attacking “without any provocation and without any credible excuse”.

The prime minister said: “Innumerable missiles and bombs have been raining down on an entirely innocent population. A vast invasion is under way by land, by sea and by air.

“We, and the world, cannot allow that freedom just to be snuffed out. We cannot and will not just look away.”