Voucher scheme launched in bid to protect small businesses from cyber attacks

A new scheme worth up to £300,000 has been launched to protect small businesses across Scotland from cyber attacks.

Two-hundred small and medium-sized firms will be able to access funding of up to £1,500 to bring in a cyber security expert to check the vulnerability of their current systems.

A cyber resilience strategy and action plan can then be drawn up with a view to meeting the UK Government’s cyber essentials standard.

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The Digital Scotland Business Excellence Partnership Cyber Resilience Voucher scheme follows concerns that Scotland’s small business community is not doing enough to stay secure online.

Many small businesses north of the border are “unprepared and unconcerned” when it comes to cyber attacks, research published by KPMG and Cyber Streetwise earlier this year claimed.

Figures published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport earlier this week showed two-thirds of UK firms have been hit by cyber attacks. 

All suppliers bidding for certain sensitive and personal information handling contracts need to be certified against the government-backed cyber essentials scheme, which sets out what essential security controls organisations need to have in place to reduce the risk posed by threats on the internet.