Free help and advice for SMEs worried about cyber attacks

16.11.20

Blog, Cyber

In his latest blog, Cyber Incident Response Manager, Mark Cunningham-Dickie, urges businesses to take advantage of our free service to help them navigate cyber woes.

In March 2020 the UK government released official statistics on the number of  Cyber Security Breaches.  It revealed that 46% of businesses and 26% of charities have experienced cyber security breaches or attacks over the previous 12 months. 

Those are the official statistics. In reality, those who have suffered a cyber-attack and have not reported it push that figure up significantly.

Within the cyber community we are great at talking shop to each other, and we understand the risks, issues and mitigations to help detect, prevent, and recover from cyber-attacks. 

The problem is that we’re too often just talking amongst ourselves. Organisations and charities not related to the cyber security industry don’t often browse cyber-related articles, or at least it’s not at the top of their to-do list!

Many organisations don’t know where to start with this subject and it can be incredibly overwhelming, should an attack actually happen, to know what to do first.

We want to reach as many organisations as we can with our free resource, but just as you may not know much about the cyber industry, we may not know the best way to reach you and your industry. 

If you know anyone who owns or works for a small or medium enterprise (SME) in Scotland, please send them a link to our website or give them a note of our incident response number (01786 437472). It may not help them today, but if the worst happens, knowing where to turn can make all the difference.

If you’ve been referred to this article, I’d like you to ask yourself the following questions:

If the answer to any of these questions is no, or if you’re just unsure, then you’re one of the people that I want to reach out to. 

The Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC) is a not-for-profit organisation.  We deal with all sorts of business resilience matters, not just cyber. 

As the Cyber Incident Response Manager, my services are free (the incident response line was launched in partnership with SBRC, Scottish Government and Police Scotland) and despite my job title, you don’t have to wait to suffer a cyber-attack or breach before you call me. 

If you need any help or advice around protecting yourself from a cyber incident, please don’t hesitate to email me. 

My email address is [email protected]

If you are currently suffering a cyber incident, please call the Cyber Incident Response hotline on 01786 437472.