PureCyber Joins Cyber Essentials Charity Awareness Fortnight To Encourage Adoption of Cyber Essentials in the Charity Sector

PureCyber is proud to be taking part in the Cyber Essentials Charity Awareness Fortnight. We are joining IASME, NCSC, certification bodies and other partners in this campaign to educate charities about cyber threats and the benefits of attaining the Cyber Essentials certification.

Why Are Charities Vulnerable?

Charities hold a host of sensitive information and data valuable to cyber criminals on supporters, volunteers, and trustees, including invoice and payment details. These can be sold by cyber criminals and used to target other individuals with phishing and other social engineering attacks. Charities are particularly vulnerable for a variety of reasons, such as limited funds, the culture of trust within the sector, a high volume of part time staff members, a larger percentage of staff reliant on personal IT and reliance of volunteers.

As highlighted in The NCSC’s Threat Report for the charity sector, over 30% of UK charities identified a cyber-attack in 2022. The impact of a cyber-attack on charities can be devasting; not only due to financial losses due to downtime of services but in the loss of public trust and confidence that are essential to a charity’s sustainability.

Why Charities Need Cyber Essentials

The Cyber Essentials scheme can help charities to implement basic cyber security controls and mitigate common threats such as ransomware and phishing. This not only allows them to focus on delivering services to their users, but demonstrates that they take the protection of data and cyber security seriously across their activities and services.

Cyber Essentials Discount

Registered charities who apply through a participating certification body such as PureCyber will be able to receive a discount on their Cyber Essentials certification to help them achieve the Cyber Essentials standard.

How does the discount work?

The discount to charities certifying to Cyber Essentials during the campaign fortnight will be £75 on each organisational tier.

Applicant charities must submit their registered charity number which must be validated against the respective UK Charity Commission Register.

The application must be made during the weeks of the 6th to 5pm on the 17th of November 2023.

The charity must start the process within one month of application and must have completed and submitted the assessment by 17th May 2024.

The Cyber Essentials Process

The Cyber Essentials certification process, whether standard or plus, is a beneficial exercise for organisations and provides a starting point when looking to implement cyber security defences. It is an achievable governance accreditation which can help improve your cyber security assurance.

PureCyber, as a long-standing certification body for both the Cyber Essentials Standard and Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation, have a history of working closely with customers to help them achieve this governance standard.

More Support

PureCyber are here to help you through the process of attaining the Cyber Essentials Accreditation and beginning your cyber security journey.

Visit our FAQ section for more answers to common questions about Cyber Essentials or visit IASME

If you have any further questions on Cyber Essentials for your charity or general advice, get in touch with our cyber experts today.