The offer

The South West Cyber Resilience Centre (CRC) was launched in October 2020 as part of a Home-Office funded national programme, seeking to make SME’s and third sector organisations more cyber resilient. It covers the policing areas of Gloucestershire, Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, Wiltshire and Dorset. 

The CRC is a not-for-profit limited company, set up as a partnership between policing, the private sector, and academia. It is supported regionally by the Federation of Small Businesses, Business West, and the South West Business Council.

Around two in five businesses report being subject of attacks or breaches in the last twelve months, with government estimates putting the average cost at over £4,000. The CRC provides a trusted point of contact for cyber resilience, providing non-partisan guidance and support, in a simple way, so that all businesses can reduce their risk.

Businesses can engage CRC support in several ways. Core membership is free.  It delivers a welcome pack which introduces a number of National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) products to help people reduce their cyber risks. It also generates contact from the centre, a twelve-week bite sized training programme, and regular monthly updates on new threats. It is genuinely a ‘something for nothing’ offer, aimed at helping individuals to protect their businesses or charities. Later, it briefs members on the government’s cyber essentials scheme, and helps them achieve certification if they wish.  And it provides various free webinars and offers along the way. 

If a member needs more tailored advice and support, the centre is able to offer various services. This could include probing their technical systems for weakness, reviewing company policies/ practices, or training for staff. These services are provided through a network of selected regional university students, all appropriately trained, insured and supervised. This provides expertise at far lower cost than normally available. 

If more detailed consultancy is required, the CRC can signpost businesses to a network of ‘trusted partners’, who have achieved the level of technical competence which lets them deliver the nationally-recognised Cyber Essentials scheme. So if you don’t know who to turn to, you can be reassured that you’re using someone fairly local and with sound credentials.

To sign up for free core membership, simply go to the Cyber Resilience Centre for the South West website and enter a few details. It’ll take around two minutes.