Cyber security boosted

A £500,000 contract to extend cyber resilience training to more than 250 organisations across the country has been awarded by the Scottish Government.

The grant will enable the Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC) to run online and in-person workshops for public services and third sector health, housing, and social care bodies to ensure they are better prepared and protected.

Scotland has been subject to a number of disruptive large scale cyber-attacks in recent years with developments in Ukraine and the recent COVID lockdown exacerbating the situation. 

The training, which has already benefited 450 organisations, includes mock scenarios such as a third-party software compromise, a ransomware attack and a threatened sensitive data leak.

It is hoped more than 250 organisations will benefit from the training programme, which comes ahead of a major summit in Edinburgh as part of European Cyber Security Month in October.

Justice Secretary Keith Brown, who will address the event, said:

“We have all seen the devastating impact of an organisation falling victim to a cyber-related incident, so extending training to make more people aware of the risks is absolutely crucial.

“The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring Scotland leads the way in cyber resilience and security.

“This extended training will help many more organisations to stave off the threat of an attack, and protect against disruptive and costly data breaches.

“The workshops provide practical guidance to mitigate or respond to hostile cyber-attacks. I would urge eligible organisations to take up this opportunity to ensure they are protected.”

Jude McCorry, Chief Executive Officer of the SBRC, said:

“There is no denying that the ongoing pressure facing everyone from a cyber-perspective has increased massively in recent years. Just as we see one organisation recover from the grips of a cyber-incident, another is targeted.

“It is also now believed that cyber criminals have targeted more than three-quarters of public sector organisations and, closer to home, we have seen this play out with a number of disruptive large-scale attacks already in Scotland.

“We don’t want to see more Scottish organisations fall victim to these attacks and that is why upskilling and awareness programmes continue to be so vital.”

Background

SBRC will deliver the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) ‘Exercise in a Box’ programme on behalf of the Scottish Government. It has already upskilled 450 organisations across Scotland since being  launched in 2020. Organisations interested in learning more about ‘Exercise in a Box’ are invited to attend a taster session on 25 August. Find out more or register here.

Top five cyber-resilience tips

1 Improve password security:

Creating strong, separate passwords and storing them safely is a good way to protect yourself online.

Use a strong and separate password for your email.

Weak passwords can be hacked in seconds. Make yours strong, longer and more memorable by combining three random words that you can remember.

2 Save your password in to your browser:

This is safer than re-using the same password for all your accounts. Save them to secure them.

3 Turn on 2-Step Verification:

Two step verification protects you with a second layer of security that checks it’s really you logging in. Think of it as a double lock for your data. Be doubly sure.

4 Update your devices:

Cybercriminals exploit weaknesses in software and apps to get your information. Updating fixes those weaknesses. Think of update reminders as an alarm telling you to act. Stay secure. Update regularly.

5 Back up your data:

If your phone, tablet or laptop is hacked, you could lose all your personal files including photos and videos. Keep everything secure by backing up. Back it up, keep it secure.