If you are a Scottish-based Small Medium Enterprise or third sector organisation the chance of getting your hands on a £1000 voucher towards showing your business is cyber-savvy is the hottest deal around.
To help tackle cyber threats, businesses and organisations are being given a helping hand to towards achieving the National Cyber Security Centre endorsed Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus certificates.
The £500,000 funding pot has gone live and is giving out up to £1,000 a time to qualifying organisations to help achieve Cyber Essentials certification.
This is your chance to gain a Government-backed, industry-supported accreditation that will help protect your organisation against common online threats.
Some companies are using the new certificate as a selling point in their marketing activities, but the benefits stretch beyond this however, with many finding that they can use their new certification to target a new, more security conscious market which may have previously been out of reach.
A growing number of organisations are seeking out partners with Cyber Essentials credentials, as they want to work with suppliers and distributors who can prove their cyber resilience and compliance. From their perspective, becoming Cyber Essentials certified means that you can be trusted.
The UK scheme launched four years ago to help businesses protect themselves from cyber-attacks. It gives a clear statement of the basic controls all organisations should implement to mitigate the risk from common internet-based threats and offers a mechanism for organisations to demonstrate that these essential precautions have been taken.
Many companies have found that, in the process of implementing the new security procedures necessary to obtain the qualification, they find previously unknown vulnerabilities or areas for significant optimisation in their networks, enforcing a rise in cyber resilience and operating efficiency.
If your business holds any data, whether it is employee data, suppliers’ information or customer marketing records, the benefits of increased cyber security and data compliance alone make it worthwhile.
But it also means you won’t be left behind when tendering for new business – Cyber Essentials is like a badge of honour that is becoming increasingly sought after in tender processing.
As a trusted partner, Clark IT has helped scores of businesses to gain Cyber Essentials certification and the team will be happy to chat you through the processes involved.
In summary, organisations can apply for the grant funding online and if approved will be eligible to access the money once they have achieved the Cyber Essentials accreditation.
Applicants will be signposted to trusted partners, of which Clark IT is one, at an early stage.
The scheme will run for 12 months or until the vouchers have been exhausted - so my advice is grab this while you can.
Scotland-based small and medium-sized private sector organisations can apply via a portal on the Scottish Enterprise website https://www.scottish-enterprise.com/learning-zone/business-guides-and-webinars/components-folder/business-guides-and-webinar-listing/keep-your-business-cyber-secure
Third sector organisations can apply via a portal on the Scottish Council Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) website https://scvo.org/digital/evolution/cyber-resilience/apply-for-a-cyber-essentials-grant