Alison Brogan, SCVO’s cyber resilience co-ordinator, reflects on how charities are working to become better at preventing and responding to cyber attacks
According to SCVO’s Third Sector Tracker, eight out of ten charities said that digital tools/systems were important to their organisation with almost a third saying they had low/no confidence that they were protected against cyber risk.
However, detailed results are encouraging with a good proportion of organisations taking basic cyber precautions, such as enabling anti-virus or setting strong passwords.
Through engagement with charities we are seeing steady progress in the following areas nevertheless it is important that as the cyber threat continues to grow they keep taking steps to ensure their organisation operates safely online.
Improving cyber awareness
Staff and volunteers are using digital systems every day so giving them the right cyber awareness and training is key. Although lots of free resources exist to support this only 21% of UK charities have some form of cyber staff training in place.
It is important to talk about staying safe online regularly, to help good habits stick and to make this easier for charities SCVO recently launched a new awareness campaign. Share quarterly hints and tips within your organisation to help your people spot cyber risks and take appropriate action, our next lunchtime learning session is on the biggest threat - phishing.
Protecting against common threats
It’s great to see that lots of charities are making good progress in utilising existing guidance to implement appropriate protective measures against common threats. However recent findings, from research we commissioned last year, highlighted that more support is needed to help organisations minimise their cyber risk.
SCVO has therefore launched a new initiative, backed by the Scottish Government, that will enable over 100 third sector organisations to access free cyber expertise to help them protect their digital systems and data.
- For organisations looking to take their first steps towards staying safe online, join us for our next free event on Thursday 5th June – future locations to follow.
- If you’re looking to improve what you’ve already got or just gain some assurance then apply for free expert cyber support.
Preparing for the inevitable
With it being a case of when, rather than if, a cyber attack occurs it’s important to be prepared however only 28% of UK charities have cyber incident response plans in place. Our recent research identified that existing templates were not adequate for smaller organisations so SCVO, alongside TPXimpact, created a new printable incident response poster to help.
It allows voluntary organisations to capture key contact details offline and clearly guides them through how to respond to a cyber attack, hopefully removing some of the stress and saving vital time when getting your organisation up and running again online. It has been really well received within the sector and while some charities might want to supplement the poster with a more detailed plan, it is an ideal starting point for organisations large and small.
Alison Brogan is the cyber resilience co-ordinator at SCVO. You can find all of the above along with more support, guidance and resources on our web page, at: https://scvo.scot/support/digital/cyber-resilience
