Public Sector Action Plan on Cyber Resilience
Safe, Secure and Prosperous is the Scottish Government tagline for the Public-Sector Action Plan on cyber resilience (Cyber – Public Sector Action Plan – FINAL – Public Sector Action Plan 2017-18). Although this is mainly aimed at the public sector in Scotland, it is just as relevant to the Private and Third sector. We all know that digital technology means that there are now no borders to doing business. However, more technology means it is easier for cyber-criminals to get hold of your data and Intellectual property.
Reputation is everything in business and if that trust and confidence is broken, it is very hard to win it back again. If you are subject to a breach or data hack, it can be expensive in terms of downtime, cost to fix the problem and the damage it does to your reputation. For this reason, we need to do everything in our power to protect our IT Systems. This new initiative by the Scottish Government and The National Cyber Resilience Leaders Board, is designed to do just that. It will give you a baseline to build upon your cyber security.
Safe, Secure and Prosperous
For any form of security we have to build from a solid foundation and that is what the Cyber Essentials Plus (CE+) accreditation gives you.
The Scottish Government want all public bodies to have the CD+ accreditation in place by June 2018 and this is big ask. One good thing is, they are making funding available to get consultancy from specialist cybersecurity consultants – like Unleashed. However, it is arguably more important if you are a private sector company to ensure you are fully protected and the only way to do this is by getting the Cyber Essentials Plus seal of approval.
If you are business that tenders for work from the Government, MOD, Vodafone or other big organisations, you will find it is mandatory to have CE+.
What does this entail?
As I have said in many times – ‘Cybercriminals do not stand still, they are constantly on the lookout for vulnerabilities in your IT systems’. I was carrying out a Cyber Essentials plus vulnerability scan only yesterday. And the IT manager asked why their company would be targeted. My answer, you are not – cybercriminals are scanning the web for any company that has out of date or unpatched systems. If they find one, then they will attack you and then it becomes targeted!
Until you scan a system, you have no idea if you have any problems. My scan yesterday, highlighted 674 vulnerabilities. Admittedly a lot of these will be minor and have no impact. But, if you don’t know about them, you can’t secure them! And the sad fact is, the bigger the organisation, the more complicated the problems are. For this reason, every business should be consulting an expert on cybersecurity – your IT company may know the basics but they don’t have the in-depth knowledge that a specialist like Unleashed have.
What does it Cost?
Not as much as you may think. Unleashed will carry out a fixed price Cyber Essentials Plus assessment with a guaranteed pass, on one main site for £2,995.00 (EX-VAT).
So, my advice, if you want your business to be Safe, Secure and Prosperous, don’t hang about. Contact us today to book an assessment. If you just want to have a chat, we are very approachable. 0333 240 0565.
