Exeter declares war on cyber crime
Exeter businesses are being offered the chance to prepare themselves for the escalating war against cyber crime.
The City’s Cyber Security Awareness Week (CSAW) will offer a series of free workshops and seminars on all aspects of cyber crime, from taking preventative steps to watching a live data recovery demonstration.
One whole day of events will be devoted to the implications of the forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into force in May. Delegates will learn how to prepare to be data compliant as well as manage their day to day data protection, new rights of individuals and handling data breaches. The day will include a live data recovery demonstration.
The week hosted by Bluegrass Group, is aimed at small and medium sized businesses who may not have the time, nor the expertise to protect themselves. Crucially, many smaller businesses are still operating a ‘head in the sand’ approach to their online security and preparations for GDPR.
It was this apparent complacency that prompted Bluegrass to stage their first CSAW event last year. Two hundred delegates attended, hearing from 18 of the country’s top experts in all aspects of cyber security at various venues around the city, prompting Bluegrass to organise another event next month.
This year’s programme beginning on February 26 is even more ambitious with a series of 11 workshops, a range of top speakers, networking events and daily cyber breakfasts.
‘Cyber security is a primary risk to all businesses large or small,’ said David Thomas, Bluegrass Group chairman. ‘We all saw how the Wannacry cyber attack wreaked havoc on tens of thousands of organizations world wide last year, including our National Health Service and US delivery service FedEx.
‘But the sad truth is that every single day, businesses across Exeter and beyond are being attacked by ruthless criminals causing disruption or demanding ransoms. At the moment it’s a massively underreported crime because victims are either too embarrassed or worried about reputation damage. Or because they’re as yet unaware they’ve been targeted.’
But Mr Thomas warns the implications will soon be much worse. Breaches of GDPR will be subject to huge fines, depending on how effective their preparation and prevention has been. Fines could be up to € 20 million or 4% of world wide annual revenue.
Mr Thomas continued: ‘Larger companies are beginning to respond by devoting more resources to their cyber security, which unfortunately makes smaller companies even more attractive to hackers. So it’s the smaller business owners and managers that we want to help fight the criminals and prepare for GDPR.’
Sponsoring the event are Exeter based Bluegrass Group, Stephens Scown solicitors, South West Business Connections and Chalk and Ward. International players include business continuity experts Datto and Sophos who produce IT security products.
Cyber Security Awareness Week begins on Monday February 26 and runs until Friday March 2. For more information please visit www.bluegrassgroup.eventbrite.co.uk
