A recent space of high-profile attacks shows how companies of any size can make basic cybersecurity errors, according to an IT expert.
Yesterday Japanese brewing giant Asahi revealed that it was the latest company to be targetted by hackers.
The owner of beer brands including Peroni, Grolsch and Tyskie said there was no sign of personal information being leaked - while its European operations were not affected.
However the attack did lead to what it described as a "systems failure" that impacted its shipping and customer service in Japan.
It follows cyber attacks on a number of well-known brands in recent weeks - including Jaguar Land Rover, Marks & Spencer, Gucci and North Face.
Meanwhile there was widespread disruption across European aviation earlier this month, when a number of major European airports suffered cyber attacks.
"There's a very active gang out there at the moment - dubbed 'Scattered Spider' - they've been responsible for the attacks against Marks and Spencer, the Co-Op in the UK... they're suspected to be behind [Jaguar Land Rover] so they're a very active gang," said Brian Honan, owner of BH Consulting.
"Cyber attacks are increasing and these issues will happen," he stated.
He said that the attackers appeared to be trying to hold impacted companies to ransom - which presented a challenge for those affected.
They had to choose to pay the ransom and hope to be able to continue to operate, or find a way to work around the disruption that was caused by the attacks.
And while these kinds of incidents are digital-based, they can have very real-world impacts.
"In the case of Jaguar Land Rover it's not just themselves that are being impacted - but also their supply chain," he said.
"Some are actually saying they may have to go out of business because Jaguar Land Rover stopped production, therefore they're not buying parts or services from these companies and these companies are now having to lay off staff," he explained.
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"Jaguar Land Rover themselves have also had to furlough many of their staff... and it looks like, at this stage, October 6 is when they expect to come back online," he added.
Given the number of major, lucrative companies falling victim to cyber attacks in recent times, smaller firms may feel that they have little hope about protecting themselves.
However Mr Honan said, in many cases, the breaches came about as a result of basic errors by companies and their staff - such as unwitttingly sharing log-in details with scammers or using easy-to-guess passwords on critical systems.
He said companies should take the opportunity to look once again at their processes to ensure they are as protected as possible - but they should also look at what plans they have in place to react if an important system is taken offline.
"They need to sit down and look at their own business and see what IT systems they are reliant on and put in place plans, A; to protect those systems and services," he said. "But B; ask what would you do in the event that those services were unavailable due to a ransom attack or a cyber attack, or an act of nature.
"It's building resilience into your business and treating cyber risk and cybersecurity as a key business risk - not as an IT problem."
