23 November 2017

Act now to protect your business with new guidance from the LCCI Cyber Working Group

Earlier this year the UK Government announced the formation of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), an organisation dedicated to providing technical advice and guidance to the UK population, particularly SMEs, with the objective of making the UK the safest place in the world from which to conduct online business, whether as a customer or a supplier.

The LCCI's Cybersecurity Working Group have been working to a similar, albeit member focused objective for the past two years and we hope you have seen and gained benefit from the articles we have published and our infographic series designed to give you specific security advice. You can see our latest infographic below, focussed on computer and laptop security.

On 11th October, the NCSC published a small business specific advice page which can now be found at NCSC website and the guidance published there usefully contextualises the cybersecurity infographics published by our working group elsewhere on the LCCI website.

For anybody, understanding the breadth and depth of the cyber threat is challenging as it evolves continuously. For this reason, focussing on what you value and what you want to protect is a great foundational step. The advice provided by the NCSC and the Cybersecurity Working Group is designed to help you understand and reduce your cyber security risk and business exposure.

Having said that, the steps we advise should be seen as a journey and not an end-state. Together with the fantastic resources we have in the UK, we and the LCCI want to help you and your company continually reduce the risk of being one of this year's victims, so please take action today.

The LCCI's Cybersecurity Working Group is keen to hear from members regarding their challenges and concerns, including the usefulness and applicability of both our advice and that of the NCSC. If you have a view, good or bad, please make contact with comment at policy@londonchamber.co.uk.

Figure 1, below, highlights where some of the more obviously exploitable weaknesses in a modern laptops and PCs are located, the threat they represent to you and your data, and some of the ways you can reduce the risk.

You can access the first in our awareness series, focussed on the smartphone.

The information on our infographics is not exhaustive, given the number of scams and the complex ways in which technology can be used to carry them out. Rather, its purpose is to highlight the need to take steps to become cyber safe and businesses are urged to visit the National Cyber Security Centre’s online advice pages at www.ncsc.gov.uk for the most up to date information.

These materials have been developed by LCCI though its business member-led Cyber Security Working Group, established in 2016, whose primary aim is to support the capital’s SMEs so that the capital becomes the safest place in the world to run a business.

Working Group members:

Chair: Mike Britnell, BeCyberSure
Graeme McGowan, Optimal Risk
Sarb Sembhi, Virtually Informed
Ross Thomson, Amethyst Risk Management
Stuart Laidlaw, Cyberlytic