There’s now no excuse for Worcestershire businesses not to protect against cyber-attacks!

26 Aug, 2014

The growth of all things digital has been an important catalyst for many companies. This growth has however brought with it new risks such as data fraud and/or theft, as well as privacy issues. These risks can have a financial knock on all businesses as they seek to protect themselves and the information that they hold. Furthermore, the increase in legislation brings its own challenges.

Did you know? More than 70% of people would reveal their computer password in exchange for a bar of chocolate. 33% said they shared passwords or wrote them down”. (Source: BBC)

With this in mind, Worcester County Council have sought to reduce these hurdles that the county’s SME’s have to overcome with the introduction of a new initiative called ‘Growing Cyber’.

Growing Cyber provides tailored training and support to SME’s, as well as providing matched funding for business growth. The initiative is being run in conjunction with Malvern based cyber security experts 3SDL who will provide a comprehensive analysis of an organisation. This will include:

• An initial assessment,
• Training,
• Improving security infrastructure and,
• Testing.

Worcester County Council additionally fully appreciate that many of the county’s SME’s have very tight budgets and have therefore offered to provide half of all costs relating to improving cyber security upon application, of up to £20,000 (so a total spend of £40,000).

The improving of an organisations security infrastructure can come in many forms such as the introduction of password protection and anti-virus software. It is however strongly recommended that a company takes a more holistic approach which provides a coordinated attack on all the elements of cyber security.

A possible solution

A method of doing just that could be the introduction of the ISO 27001 Information Security Management System which can be implemented with the assistance of the aforementioned matched funding from Worcester Council.

The ISO 27001 includes a risk assessment, of which the assessment carried out by 3SDL which was discussed earlier can be utilised. Furthermore, the system includes the introduction of an information security policy, an asset inventory and an incident log amongst other very important aspects.

Did you know? In the past year, 45% of large organisations breached UK data protection laws and only 18% of those organisations that breached data protection laws had an effective contingency in place. 20% of small businesses lost confidential data, and 19% of large organisations were hit by employee computer fraud.

An additional system that can be achieved with the aid of the “Growing Cyber” scheme is the ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System. This system focuses business’s ability to continue operations even when being subject to a major incident such as a cyber-attack, severe bad weather or the loss of a senior employee.

The Standard reduces the risks associated with disruptions and in doing so reduce the amount of downtime after an incident.

Benefits of putting in place a system such as a system can include the improvement of a business’s reputation, safeguarding the business’s future and limiting the disruption to customers.

Please note that applications for this initiative must be received by September 2015 so there’s no time to waste!

Further information

If you would like to find out more about the “Growing Cyber” initiative, please visit the Worcester Business Central Website here.

Further information regarding the services provided by 3SDL can be found on their website, please click here.

For information regarding the ISO 27001 and 22301 standards, please click here or here respectively. Alternatively, contact us direct on 01905 670303 or info@isoqsltd.com.