Life is precious – to many of us that is a given, but it’s also something that we all most probably take for granted until the worst happens, such as a serious accident or the passing of a dear family member like a mother or father. The thing is, the same applies to our data – whether personal or enterprise data. Like the pathogens that will attack our bodies, there are viral threats, ransomware, phishing, DDoS and hacking incidents that threaten our data and operations.
So, while we wouldn’t romance our parents, but take as much care of them as we can, we also need to do the same with our data. Yet, as with life, there are no guarantees. Still, prevention is always better than a cure – both in terms of looking after our health and our data. It’s therefore not just about reacting when something goes wrong, but about putting in place a cyber-security plan – in effect, a health plan – to maintain both service and business continuity.
Organisational health plan
When organisations fail to create cyber-security strategies or to put training, procedures, processes and the right technologies in place, the health of the organisation is at risk. “It’s therefore vital, with events such as St. Valentine’s around the corner, to ensure that data is backed up in at least 3 disparate locations – located outside of each other’s circle of disruption,” advises David Trossell - CEO and CTO of Bridgeworks.
Google AI Overview says that while industry reports often don’t exclusively focus on the cyber-threats that occur on St. Valentine’s Day in any given year, in 2025 UK businesses faced a baseline of 2,000 cyber-attacks throughout the year. Major retailers, logistics and data-heavy sectors were targeted throughout the spring.
The incidents included attacks on retailers and supply chains. For example, Marks and Spencer’s (M&S) suffered a ransomware attack that crippled operations for weeks – suspending online orders and causing in-store payment issues at Easter. The incident caused estimated losses of £300m, and the methods most commonly used during 2025 included social engineering, and the use of DragonForce ransomware to lock systems. There were persistent threats to retailers and other businesses, with 85% of successful breaches being linked to phishing.
Take preventive measures
“This illustrates why organisations large and small need to take preventative measures, such as frequently backing up their data and creating air-gaps for the most vulnerable and sensitive data they hold,” says Trossell. Given that latency and packet loss inhibit fast data transfers and restores, particularly over large distances, he remarks that it’s wise to invest in WAN Acceleration, as a preventative measure - not to be confused with WAN Optimisation.
The latter is a great technology, but it can’t handle encrypted data in flight. So, to care for their data, organisations need to use tech that deploys artificial intelligence, machine learning and data parallelisation. This is to mitigate the effects of latency and packet loss, while boosting bandwidth utilisation by up to 98%. In essence, that’s WAN Acceleration, which can send and receive encrypted data at speed while obfuscating bad actors, such as cyber-criminals.
“Take out appropriate, tailored insurance”
Sarah Kenshall, a partner in the intellectual property, IT and commercial team at law firm Pennington Manches Cooper adds in her blog post ‘Top cybersecurity threats around Valentine’s Day (and how to manage the risk)’ for the company: “Take out appropriate, tailored insurance with a reputable provider to mitigate losses from operational downtime, financial loss, regulatory investigations and legal action. Ensure critical suppliers are ISO 27001 certified and follow NCSC guidelines as best practice.
“Monitor these in a supply chain through regular audit, ensuring that cyber and operational resilience is embedded by design at all levels of the supply chain. Implement the risk mitigations identified in the data risk assessment to ensure roles and responsibilities are allocated appropriately and suitable policies, procedures and training are in place.”
That’s crucial advice, particularly when you consider what ideas Anvil reports in its article, ‘The Biggest Cybersecurity Threats to Watch in 2026,’ which cites Optimum Skills’ research. It claims that 43% of UK businesses said they’d experienced a cyber-breach or attack in the last 12 months. “The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) even recorded a threefold increase in severe cyber incidents in the last year,” says the firm, before adding that 73% of business leaders believe a cyber-security incident will disrupt their operations in the next two years.
Romance data today
So, now is the time to romance your data. Organisations don’t need to wait for an event such as St. Valentine’s Day to prevent their data from being hacked, stolen, blocked and extorted. They can prepare for the worst, and act to prevent any kind of disruption or, at the very least, thwart a serious impact caused by a cyber-security attack by being forewarned and forearmed. That isn’t solely the responsibility of technology; people need to be updated and trained, too.
“The trouble is that, as humans, whenever there is a cost attached to investing in anything, we are often reluctant to spend any money – despite the fact the best insurance policy is to do whatever we can to stop cyber-criminals in their tracks, because that’s the cheapest insurance policy,” notes Trossell. That includes WAN Acceleration.
Be prepared, minimise downtime
Going forward with St. Valentine’s in mind, individuals and organisations should expect to see a surge in phishing attacks and fraudulent URLs designed to exploit consumers and businesses. While public sector organisations won’t be immune to any form of cyber-attack, the main targets will be e-commerce companies, hospitality providers, and retailers during this period.
With AI-driven cyber-attacks and deception being used to trick people into clicking on links by impersonating brands, or to fraudulently get executives to make money transfers, there is a need to use both AI and machine learning tools to stop any potential disaster from occurring. When one does occur, at the very least, having backups will allow you to restore your organisation to good health, so that you can keep operating by minimising downtime and being prepared to forestall any cyber-attack.
Written in memory of my mum, Elizabeth H. Jarvis, who died on 16th January 2026.
