Government funding is available to help charities to achieve the valuable Cyber Essentials accreditation which demonstrates stronger cyber protection and better management of data. The funding is available for a short time and needs to be spent by the end of March. So now there’s really no excuse to not become more Cyber safe. Here’s more information...

What is Cyber Essentials accreditation?

The Cyber Essentials accreditation is often a requisite for larger funding bids for Government and local authority tenders.

Being cyber safer is a key part of safeguarding your information, data, and ultimately your donors and clients.

I’m a charity! Why do I need Cyber Essentials?

Cyber attackers will target charities because they think they won’t be attacked. Sadly, the number of cyber-attacks on charities, businesses and individuals are on the rise and high numbers of charities reported that they have suffered attacks in the last year.

Cyber-attacks can devastate your reputation and drive customers, clients, and donors away. As well as being incredibly frustrating, they’re terrible for your PR and the future of your charity could be at risk if you don’t take action.

I can’t afford Cyber Essentials because I’m a charity!

If you're a charitable organisation with fewer than 50 employees, you could be eligible for a fully funded new scheme from the Government through the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to help certify your organisation to this Cyber Essentials Plus standard.

Criteria:

• You must have a registered charity number
• You must process personal data
• You need to have fewer than 50 staff
• You should be prepared to work with Vertical Structure and make recommended changes
• The work must be complete by 31 March 2023

What organisations get

• 3 days of consultancy
• Cyber Essentials Plus Certification

Don’t take our word for it. Sara Ward from Black County Women's Aid discusses her charity's experience getting Cyber Essentials Plus certification here; “Cyber security certainly isn’t our expertise,” Sara admits, “and the requirement for Cyber Essentials Plus took us to another level. The language of cyber security was new to us and so we felt we needed the help of experts to improve and achieve certification.”

Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus are IASME accreditations and the Cyber Resilience Centre wants to help charities gain this standard.

The Cyber Resilience Centre for the West Midlands is working closely with its Trusted Partners. This is a group of Cyber Service providers who are IASME accredited to help businesses gain the Cyber Essentials standard.

We’re also working with one of our Affiliate businesses KeySigma who support this work as well. Along with our Trusted partners, they are great assets for the CRC and help us to help businesses across the West Midlands Region.

Ready to request our Cyber Essentials course? We’d love to work with you. If you have any questions, please contact us to learn more.