Check the strength of your cyber security

A free government service for UK organisations performs a range of simple online checks to identify common vulnerabilities in your public-facing IT.

Check whether your IP address, website and web browser are vulnerable. Learn more >

Is your supply chain putting you at risk?

Resources from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) outline practical steps to help organisations assess cyber security in their supply chains.

According to the NCSC, "cyber attacks resulting from vulnerabilities within the supply chain can result in devastating, expensive and long-term ramifications for affected organisations, their supply chains and their customers.

"But despite these risks, many companies lose sight of their supply chains. In fact, according to the DSIT 2023 Security Breaches Survey, just over one in ten businesses review the risks posed by their immediate suppliers (13%), and the proportion for the wider supply chain is half that figure (7%)."

South East Cyber Resilience Centre

The South East Cyber Resilience Centre (SECRC) is a police-led partnership with academia and businesses that supports and helps protect SMEs, supply chain businesses and third sector organisations in the region against cyber crime.

Businesses can join the SECRC community and benefit from expert guidance and toolkits designed to help boost your organisation's resilience against fraud and cyber-attacks. Support includes:

• Free 30-minute cyber health consultation to help you understand your current risks
• Free onboarding programme full of tips, tools and resources, plus a regular newsletter
• Subsidised cyber security services, including to test how strong your website is against the most common types of cyber-attacks
• Free cyber security exercises to run with your employees
• Invites to all SECRC webinars, roadshow events and conferences
• Onboarding assistance to install Police CyberAlarm, if needed

Learn all about the support on offer from the SECRC.

Sign up for Early Warning system

Early Warning is a free NCSC service designed to inform your organisation of potential cyber attacks on your network, as soon as possible. 

Organisations will receive the following high-level types of alerts:

• Incident Notifications – activity that suggests an active compromise of your system.
• Network Abuse Events – indicators that your assets have been associated with malicious or undesirable activity.
• Vulnerability and Open Port Alerts – indications of vulnerable services running on your network

Learn all about the Early Warning service and how to sign up >

Free help for companies most at risk of cyber attacks

The NCSC’s Funded Cyber Essentials Programme aims to help small companies and organisations within sectors most at risk of cyber attack with free, hands-on help to implement the cyber security controls that prevent most common types of attacks.

UK companies working in the following areas are invited to apply for help:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies
• Quantum technologies
• Engineering Biology or synthetic biology
• Semiconductors / semiconductor IP blocks

Learn more about the Funded Cyber Essentials Programme.

Exercise in a Box - test your response to a cyber attack

Exercise in a Box is an online tool from the National Cyber Security Centre that provides exercises for any organisation to test and practice their response to a variety of cyber attacks. It is completely free and you don't have to be an expert to use it. Learn all about it here.

Get support from a Cyber Advisor

The Cyber Advisor scheme is aimed primarily at small organisations, and could be particularly useful for organisations that don't have in-house expertise or easy access to qualified people who can help to secure their networks.

Learn all about the Cyber Advisor scheme.

Could you become a Cyber Advisor yourself?

The Cyber Advisor scheme relies upon the expertise of cyber security providers who deliver the practical advice and support to those who need it.

Cyber security providers can become official Cyber Advisors under this scheme by passing an independent assessment and gaining the Certificate of Competence in Cyber Essentials Implementation, and sitting an online induction training course.

Learn more about becoming a Cyber Advisor.

Cyber Essentials accreditation

Cyber Essentials is a government-backed scheme to help you protect your organisation, whatever its size, against a whole range of the most common cyber attacks.

There are two levels of certification:

1. Cyber Essentials: This self-assessment option gives you protection against a wide variety of the most common cyber attacks, including those that target systems that do not have the Cyber Essentials technical controls in place.
2. Cyber Essentials Plus: In addition to having everything that Cyber Essentials has, the Plus version includes a hands-on technical verification.

Why should you get Cyber Essentials?

• Certified cyber security
• Reassure customers that you are working to secure your IT against cyber attacks
• Attract new business with the promise you have cyber security measures in place
• You have a clear picture of your organisation's cyber security level
• Some government contracts require Cyber Essentials certification

Buckinghamshire Business First is Cyber Essentials-accredited, demonstrating to our suppliers, employees and the business community that we can be trusted with their data and have robust cyber security practices in place.

Learn more about the scheme and how your organisation can get involved.

Support to help retailers protect themselves and their customers online

NCSC has published tailored advice to help online retailers, hospitality providers, and utility services protect themselves and their customers from cyber criminals.

It is designed for retailers with an online presence – particularly for those which have online customer accounts – and those who are at risk of having their brand spoofed by criminals for malicious purposes:

Guidance encourages organisations to add an extra layer of security on top of passwords to authenticate customers. Advice also concerns what steps they should take if their brand has been spoofed online.

Survey: how do you use technology in your business?

The NCSC is canvassing opinion to ensure its guidance is relevant, engaging and useful for businesses.

Take this short survey on how you use technology as a business and what support you are - or are not - familiar with.

Receive cyber security news and support directly

Subscribe to the NCSC's email updates about cyber security matters.