Despite micro and small businesses facing a relentless onslaught from cyber-attacks, many business owners still don’t recognise the potential threats they face and mistakenly believe that their business is too small to be a target for cyber-criminals.
However, in reality, the larger, cash-rich organisations can afford to invest in the very best cycler security personnel and services, but the smaller business owners simply don’t have the finances, expertise or knowledge to protect their businesses in the same way.
The Cyber Resilience Centre for the West Midlands was established to provide its core service for free, giving out some great and plain-English guidance on how to make your IT safer. But the centre’s commercial approach allows it to do more than you’d traditionally expect from policing: it can contract directly with you to provide affordable cyber security services via the CRCs student services programme.
Student Cyber Services are designed to provide guidance to SMEs who are new to cyber security and need help getting started. The centre has formed a partnerships with local universities to identify the best and brightest ‘ethical hacking’ talent from across the region. These hand-picked students are deployed to work alongside the centre’s experienced team to provide small business with a range of affordable service to help improve your cyber resilience.
Via our student services, businesses have the opportunity to secure highly-professional services at affordable rates, whilst for the students, there’s a great chance to understand how the commercial world works, and build their CV.
There are a number of services available which include investigating what information is out there that might be used to attack your business and you personally like personal details, breached passwords, and data available on the dark web. They can check on the security of your website and systems, come in and scrutinise your current policies and procedures, or even deliver a staff training session.
And if you never need more than the centre’s student services can provide, we can point you in the direction of trusted local companies who are committed to supporting SME’s in the region.
So whilst the crux of the offer remains ‘something for nothing’, if you need a little more, it’s worth checking out the cyber resilience centre as a gateway to additional services that you can afford and trust.
Find out more on the website at www.wmcrc.co.uk/services.