Cybercriminals are consistently indiscriminate and show they will attack any business, anywhere at any time, so being prepared by building defences against threats is essential for all. What’s great is that the Cyber Resilience Centre for Wales (WCRC) recently hit a fantastic milestone of 500 Welsh businesses and charities registering with us as members.

We’re seeing that the importance of the cyber resilience message is reaching deeper into the business community, which is encouraging not only smaller independent businesses to take action to improve protective measures but we’re also welcoming established organisations that provide essential communication services in Wales.

Centre for Digital Public Services (CDPS) is one of our members and the team explains why joining the WCRC membership community has been important for the organisation.

Joining forces for added protection

CPDS was set up to support the design and delivery of better public services in Wales. We are an arm’s length body of the Welsh Government and, together with the chief digital officers in health, Welsh Government and local government, we are responsible for delivering the digital strategy for Wales.

As a digitally native organisation, CDPS has always tried to maintain a certain level of awareness on cyber issues. We became aware of the WCRC while we were looking for a trusted partner to work with us to improve cyber security internally, and a partner to help the Welsh public sector implement Digital Service Standards for Wales. Joining the WCRC has allowed us to tap into a wide specialised network and improve our intelligence in this area.

Expanded knowledge and increasing resilience

We see incredible value in strengthening ties between CDPS and the WCRC and want to take full advantage of the services and support being offered by the centre. To date, the resources and guidance have been invaluable. We have recently achieved the Cyber Essentials Plus certification for the first time, and found the assistance and examples provided by the WCRC a great help in evidencing the required standard.

The top benefits are having access to the resources and knowledge of WCRC. Every member of the team and the wider CRC network have been incredibly knowledgeable and willing to work with us to improve the way we operate, from making us aware of additional considerations in our decision-making to providing template policies we can adapt to suit our purposes.

The WCRC offers free membership, which includes regular threat updates, practical guidance, easy-to-follow resources and more. Choose an upgraded package like CPDS, with affordable services where we’ll work with you to take a more in-depth look at how your business can become even more cyber resilient.