Christmas is a time of giving, gifting and celebrating – but it also provides an opportunity for taking.

Taking advantage.

Taking hold of your IT systems.

Taking your data.

SWCRC works with organisations in the South West to build your cyber resilience, which in a nutshell makes it MUCH harder for the takers in life to ruin your Christmas. We'd love to share some cyber advice 2023.

We asked some of our partners to share their top tips for keeping safe over the Christmas period.

The team at C3iA Solutions suggested focusing on your Christmas Resilience and Recovery Plans.

‘It’s common for organisations to close down fully over the Christmas holidays but this means you have fewer staff looking at their screens to keep track of issues and report security incidents. Does your organisation have a backup plan in place, and do you know who to call and more importantly have they agreed to be available?’

Whilst a plan may not prevent an attack from happening it can significantly reduce the impact to the organisation if you have a proportionate and practised recovery plan in place.

Christmas Tip No. 1

Make sure if your office has cover staff in, that they know who to contact in an emergency and that they have been trained and briefed in your recovery plan.

The tip from Securious was more lighthearted, but with a serious message underneath it.

‘Don’t click on any links in emails pertaining to be from Santa – he’s not real!

Joking aside, links remain one of the easiest ways for cyber criminals to access your systems or plant malware into your systems.

Christmas Tip No. 2

Make sure that you have software in place to sift out suspicious links or attachments, and ensure that staff know not to click on links or attachments without checking that they are genuine first. 

PGI were concerned about opportunities for rogue websites, especially as we’re all spending online over Christmas.

‘Only shop on trustworthy websites. Red flags to look for: No HTTPS and padlock symbol at the beginning of a URL, very few or no company reviews on Google or other review platforms, unbelievably low prices, and plenty of design or spelling errors.'

Christmas Tip No. 3

If you’re not sure if an online store is legitimate, always do your due diligence and you can also make use of tools like Google’s Safe Browsing site status.’

Keep safer throughout the year with SWCRC 

SWCRC will keep you up to date with scams and threats through our monthly newsletters, and we can signpost you to Cyber Essentials partners who we trust to work with our members.

Membership is free, so please do join our growing community and let’s make the South West safer for businesses and not for criminals.

Merry Christmas!