Attached Page: Support for women in business

Cyber crime is an increasing threat for everyone – and a cyber attack could be catastrophic for your small business. But there are things you can do to prevent cyber crime from happening to you.

As the National Crime Agency points out: cyber crime “costs the UK billions of pounds, causes untold damage, and threatens national security”. According to Microsoft, 87 per cent of UK businesses are unprepared for cyber attacks (source: Tech Republic).

We want your Sandwell business to be knowledgeable about cyber crime, and armed with ways to fight it.

The effects of a cyber attack

If cyber criminals target your organisation, you could experience:

• Financial costs
• Temporary loss of access to files and networks
• Website disruption
• Unavailability of online services and applications
• Corrupted and/or damaged software and systems
• Permanent loss of data
• Account takeovers
• Hacking
• Data being exfiltrated and held to ransom
• Data released on the dark web
• Reputational risk
• Risk to vulnerable service users.

There are different types of cyber attack. They include malware, ransomware and phishing.

How to protect your business

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is a government organisation that turns its knowledge of cyber security into practical guidance for people and organisations – including SMEs. The NCSC website is packed with useful information.

Regionally, we have the Cyber Resilience Centre for the West Midlands. This is a police-led, business-focused organisation. Through its free core membership, you can access valuable tools and guidance – including a free business consultation to review your cyber security operations. Its other support includes Cyber Essentials: a certification scheme that helps you put measures in place to protect your organisation against cyber attack.

Cyber Clinic

Protect your business and build confidence in digital security

Cyber Clinic is a government-funded programme delivered by Aston University’s Centre for Cyber Security Innovation, designed to help businesses across the West Midlands strengthen their cyber security, protect their systems and unlock productivity through secure digital innovation.

Running over six months, the programme supports organisations to identify risks, improve resilience and adopt practical cyber security measures that protect data, infrastructure and customers.

What support is available

Businesses can access:

• Funded one-to-one cyber security advice tailored to your organisation
• Practical guidance to identify and reduce cyber risks
• Interactive workshops and learning sessions
• Access to tools such as the Cyber Quest game to build awareness and skills

The programme is delivered in partnership with Aston University, the West Midlands Combined Authority and Tech WM, and is open to businesses across Sandwell and the wider West Midlands.

Two quick ways to help fight cyber crime

Forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk.

Forward spam text messages to 7726.

You probably won’t get a response, but you will be contributing to NCSC’s intelligence about the types of attacks taking place.

When women are raised up at work, we will all be raised up, benefiting from a workforce that draws on the skills and talents of the whole population.

While workplace gender inequality still exists, we will support Sandwell businesses to recruit, retain and advance women.