By Supt Rebecca Chapman, NEBRC Director
What an amazing 4 years we have had. As we move into our fifth year of trading and perhaps our biggest ever year for delivery of student services we have much to reflect upon.
Cyber crime and fraud remain a key and very real threat for businesses, with the head of Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Lindy Cameron recently quoted as saying that ransomware – that is malware (malicious software) that attackers can deploy on a victim’s computer network to encrypt files – is “the most immediate danger to UK businesses”. The most recent Cyber Breaches survey (2024) illustrates that 58% of small businesses and 48% of micros have reported an attack. This has increased from 1 in 3 to 1 in 2 being attacked making the threat even more relevant for SME’s.
Our role at the NERBC is to help educate and empower regional business leaders and their teams to prepare for, and protect from, such warnings.
Established in late 2019 as a result of a pioneering, police-led partnership, with an overarching aim to support regional businesses from cyber crime and fraud, the NEBRC today has just over 3100 members, having achieved over £125K via membership programmes, alongside additional revenue from our successful student services programme.
Besides our commercial ambition, we continue to drive awareness to all key audiences, reaching over 1000 views each month via our website, which is supported by our social media interactions across Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook: we have 2500+ LinkedIn followers who regularly engage and over 1000 on X (twitter) and a reach of 50k on Facebook.
In our first year the Centre was appointed by Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership following a competitive pitch to deliver a £100K programme to support the self-employed and micro-businesses across the Leeds City Region. At the time when so many businesses were facing ongoing change and distribution as a result of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions this support became a key part of the region’s recovery plan to produce resilient and thriving businesses. As a result of the programme, we engaged with over 170 regional businesses and conducted 150 bespoke Cyber Health Checks.
This year we have contracted with NHSE in the North East to deliver cyber security services to independent SME care homes as part of a pilot to look at adult social care safety. There are 3000 homes in the NE and we are currently starting to deliver services to the first batch. We also contracted with Anglo American to deliver 25 hours of support to 25 businesses in the Scarborough area as a hard to reach section of North Yorkshire. Our expansion to securing supply chains and attracting larger contracts ensures that the end user received services for free. This also compliments our match funding arrangement with 2 of the Police and Crime Commissioners in Humberside and Durham who will pay 50% of all services delivered to educational institutions in their areas.
We are proud that the formation of the NERBC has brought together police, academia, public and private businesses, investors, and members, all working to deliver business resilience services, protecting people, places, and processes from risk – and indeed has been used as a template for other centres across the UK.
Our brilliant alumni have gone on to great jobs in the region below are some of our graduates.
For further guidance on protecting you and your business from hackers, contact [email protected]. You can also stay up to date with the ever-changing digital landscape and security threats, by signing up for our free core membership.
The NEBRC is a Police led non-profit organisation that seeks to educate, inform, and support businesses across the UK on how to protect their business online through good cyber security practices.
If you live in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and have been a victim of fraud or cybercrime, report it at www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, victims of fraud and cybercrime should report to Police Scotland on 101.