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techUK is wholly supportive of the investment and will continue to take action in helping SME’s secure themselves from cyber-attack

Yesterday the government announced a new scheme to protect small businesses from cyber-attacks. In his address to the Reform "Cyber Security: assurance, resilience, response" conference in London, Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey announced a new voucher scheme specifically intended for small and medium-sized businesses. The £1m cyber innovation vouchers scheme will provide businesses up to £5,000 to invest in specialist cyber security advice and will launch next month. It will be overseen by Innovate UK and will help recipients adopt Cyber Essentials, the government's flagship initiative to certify businesses as having the minimum cyber security measures in place.

The scheme forms part of a package of measures to help ensure the UK's status as one of the "safest places to conduct business online", said Vaizey. It includes a new online learning and careers hub, Inspired Careers, to nurture the UK cyber skills talent pool. The hub caters for individuals at every stage of their career; featuring internship and apprenticeship opportunities, academic and professional training courses, work experience and senior level vacancies. Cyber security is the first such industry to be designated its own hub. The website can be found here

Also announced was an Innovate UK and DCMS fund worth up to £500,000 to implement 12 new "Cyber Security Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP's)." The grants will seek to encourage partnerships between academia and cyber security suppliers to encourage innovation, competitiveness and productivity.

The time is ripe for this package of measures, given that SMEs lack resources and that there is a skills shortage in the industry more generally. techUK is therefore wholly supportive and will continue to take action of its own to help small businesses secure themselves. Members have provided support to the London Digital Security Centre which helps small businesses across London put in place measures to prevent themselves falling victim to online crime. techUK will also be hosting a "Cloud Clinic" event with the Federation of Small Businesses to help SME's adopt the cloud in a secure manner. Finally, Cyber Connect UK, as part of the Cyber Growth Partnership (CGP), will shortly launch a tech map of the UK's cyber capability. This will help businesses navigate the UK's offering before procuring cyber security services.