In some of our latest blogs, we’ve outlined many of the risks and challenges that small businesses face when it comes to cyber security, such as phishing attempts, financial scams and ransomware attacks. It can be difficult to know where to start when it comes to protecting yourself, your business and your reputation. Unfortunately, being cyber resilient doesn’t begin and end with strong passwords and two-factor authentication, although these are good practices.

Taking care of your business, your customers and your suppliers through robust systems and processes is of paramount importance but the best way to build cyber resilience is through awareness and training. It’s important for all staff to understand the risks, how to avoid them and how to respond in the event of a cyber attack. From CEO to account execs and from IT managers to HR, it’s imperative that everyone is in the know and can respond safely and appropriately.

Finding the right training doesn’t need to be difficult either. At the North West Cyber Resilience Centre, we’ve spent countless hours working with our partners in policing to put together impactful training that will bring you up to speed on the latest risks, empower your staff and ultimately, make you safer.

So what can you do to improve your resiliency?

The North West Cyber Resilience Centre offers free membership to businesses of any size of business and from any sector. The membership includes benefits such as our incident response pack, cyber security guidance materials, materials from the National Cyber Security Centre, cyber scams information booklet and much more.

We offer a wide range of training and assessments too, designed to help you understand any flaws or vulnerabilities in your processes and systems and to upskill your staff.

Security Awareness Training

Security Awareness Training is used to prevent and mitigate the risk of cyber attackers tricking or scamming your staff. Our flexible training packages are designed and delivered by cyber experts, giving you access to the most up-to-date information in an ever-changing cyber landscape.

Cyber Risk Exposure Assessment

A Cyber Risk Exposure Assessment comprehensively evaluates your organisation's cybersecurity posture to identify potential risks and vulnerabilities. There are two options: a baseline evaluation of your cyber security against Centre for Internet Security controls or a more comprehensive service that adds technical assessments and open source investigations.

Simulated Phishing Exercise

A simulated phishing exercise helps to raise your staff's awareness of phishing emails and guards your business against the growing trend of social engineering threats. The phishing exercise, coupled with our Security Awareness training, is a great way to understand the risk to your organisation and build resilience against one of the most common attacks.

Web Application Assessment

A Website Vulnerability Assessment assesses your website and web services through a comprehensive overview of the weaknesses and vulnerabilities within your website/web application.

Network Vulnerability Assessment

Available either remotely or on-site, our vulnerability assessment will help you determine the effectiveness of your current security measures. The review maps your network and scans for known vulnerabilities, such as poorly maintained systems, out-of-date services, or insecure access controls.

Digital Footprint Investigation

This service is focused on comprehensively reviewing publicly available information about an organisation. This service may be used to learn what is being said on the internet about an organisation, what information employees are releasing or if there are any damaging news stories, social media posts or associations.

Where to start?

One of the best places to start with your cyber security is to talk to one of our team. They can talk you through some of the risks you might face and how best to mitigate them. Unfortunately, for many businesses, cyber hygiene isn’t a priority until it’s too late. Many businesses only approach us when they’ve fallen victim to a scam or attack. As with anything else, it’s much better to take a proactive approach.

As we reach the end of 2023, make improving your cyber security a priority. We’re going to have lots more useful hints and tips to take with you into 2024, but for now, make a start with a free membership.