Today Chancellor Phillip Hammond announced the government’s £1.9bn National Cyber Security Strategy. The reason for this strategy is encapsulated in the Chancellor’s own words: “If we want Britain to be the best place in the world to be a tech business then it is also crucial that Britain is a safe place to do the digital business”.
The programme’s focus will be on shutting down spoofed banking sites, investment in specialist police units to tackle organised online criminals and training for cybersecurity experts.
This is an excellent step towards addressing the prevalent threat that cyber criminals pose to UK businesses and consumers. It is also well timed, considering October was ‘Cyber Security’ month and in that month alone, over 140 million data records were leaked. And those are just the ones that we know about.
So what does this new strategy mean to you and your business? Simply put, online security and mitigating the threat posed by cyber criminals requires a comprehensive, multi-pronged approach, from government support with its £1.9bn investment and automated controls to intercept spam emails and malware, to educating staff on the dangers of phishing and putting a risk management framework in place.
While we welcome the government’s plans, it’s imperative that we still implement and maintain a good practice to cyber security – especially as the announcement follows the government’s 2014 launch of the Cyber Essentials scheme. The scheme is made up of a set of IT controls that, when implemented properly, can protect you against around 80% of the more common types of cyber threat. You can also gain recognised ‘Cyber Essentials’ accreditation which is a way of demonstrating your cyber assurance to clients and suppliers.
As part of our security offering, Pulsant offers a service that helps you achieve Cyber Essentials accreditation – putting in place a risk management framework that demonstrates you have the controls in place to protect your organisation’s critical data.
To find out how we can work with you and exactly what our service entails, contact us today to start your journey to getting certified with Cyber Essentials.