Cybersecurity Resources
The National Cyber Security Centre
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of the UK's intelligence agency GCHQ, provides advice and support for the public and private sector in how to avoid computer security threats.
Set up in 2016, it aims to make the UK the safest place to live and work online and supports the most critical organisations in the UK, the wider public sector, industry, SMEs as well as the general public. When incidents do occur, it offers effective incident response to minimise harm to the UK, help with recovery, and learn lessons for the future.
As well as providing general cyber security advice for businesses of all sizes, the NCSC also recommends a range of specific cyber security resources, listed below.
NCSC's Cyber Security Resources
- Cyber Aware] – Cyber Aware is the government’s advice on how to stay secure online. It outlines six actions to take to improve your cyber security and offers a tailored plan for you or your business.
- NCSC Newsletter – The National Cyber Security Centre's newsletter for small organisations.
- NCSC Small Business Guide – Explains how to improve your cyber security; affordable, actionable advice for organisations.
- NCSC Cyber Security for Small Organisations E-learning - Online cyber security training for small organisations
- Top Tips for Staff - Online cyber security training for staff members.
- Exercise in a Box - A free online tool which helps organisations find out how resilient they are to cyber attacks and practise their response in a safe environment. Exercises include from 15-minute micro exercises, 1-3 hour discussion based exercises and a 3-4 hour simulation exercise.
- Response & Recovery Guide - Guidance that helps organisations prepare their response to and plan their recovery from a cyber incident.
- Ten Steps to Cyber Security - Take things a little further: breaks down the task of defending networks into ten essential components.
- COVID-19 Guidance – This guidance includes home working, video conferencing and moving your organisation from physical to digital.
- Supply Chain Security - The guidance will provide organisations with an improved awareness of supply chain security, as well as helping to raise the baseline level of competence in this regard, through the continued adoption of good practice.
- Cyber Essentials – Cyber Essentials government backed certification scheme helps you to guard against the most common cyber threats and demonstrate your commitment to cyber security. M<any government and some private contracts are now requesting Cyber Certification as part of their tender process.
- Cyber Essentials Readiness Tool - a free, online resource that guides organisations through a series of questions related to the Cyber Essentials criteria to help prepare them for certification. The tool asks questions about an organisation’s use of hardware, software, and boundary devices such as firewalls, as well as use of passwords and protections against malware and provides clear, non-technical advice for the user. Upon completion of the tool the user receives a tailored action plan that outlines the steps they need to take to achieve Cyber Essentials certification.
