Liverpool City Region Launches North West Cyber Resilience Centre Partnership To Protect Businesses

The Liverpool City Region Launches Partnership With North West Cyber Resilience Centre To Start City's First Free Police-Backed Cyber Resilience Programme, With Money Seized From Criminals To Be Used To Protect 300 Businesses Across The City Region From Cyber Attacks

Pictured are the speakers from the event this morning at the ACC Liverpool, Left To Right: DI Dan Giannasi, Head of Cyber & Innovation at the NWCRC; Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram; Chief Constable Serena Kennedy of Merseyside Police; Merseyside’s Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell and Asif Hamid MBE, CEO of The Contact Company and chairman of Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, who spoke about his experiences of a cyber attack (Credit: Supplied By Publicist).

• The Merseyside Cyber Security Programme has been funded by Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell and Chief Constable Serena Kennedy.

• Only 30% of businesses said they used tools for security monitoring, and only 29% said they did a risk assessment covering cybersecurity risks, according to the Government's Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2023 published earlier this year.

• The programme offers free training and education to small and medium-sized businesses across the Liverpool City Region to help tackle the growing threats posed by cyber attacks.

Up to 300 businesses across the Liverpool City Region will benefit from the first free police-backed cyber resilience programme in the Region, launched today, the 9th of August, by the North West Cyber Resilience Centre (NWCRC).

The Merseyside Cyber Security Programme has been funded by Merseyside’s Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell and Chief Constable Serena Kennedy. It has been achieved using money and assets seized from criminals through the Proceeds of Crime Act, which they are channelling into positive initiatives to prevent crime and protect the vulnerable.

The programme offers free training and education to small and medium-sized businesses across the region to help tackle the growing threats posed by cyber attacks, such as phishing or malware attacks.

The initiative was officially launched at ACC Liverpool this morning by the Police Commissioner, the Chief Constable and the NWCRC, and is supported by Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram.

In an increasingly digital world, we want to help protect our local SMEs from any potential threats that may come their way – so that they can continue to help our area on its journey to becoming the best place in the country to live, work and run a business in.' - Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region.

The NWCRC is a not-for-profit venture with a mission to work with businesses across all sectors to grow and strengthen their resilience to online crime. The organisation offers a range of cyber security services delivered by a team of trusted professionals, seconded police officers and innovative ethical hackers. They work with academia, private sector, public sector and leading cyber organisations to offer the very best training, guidance and services to local businesses.

Merseyside’s Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell, said: 'Merseyside Police work relentlessly to ensure crime does not pay, stripping criminals of the cash and assets they make from their illegal activities.'

Emily added: 'We are determined to use that money for good – reinvesting it to prevent crime and build a safer, stronger Merseyside. Small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of our communities. We want to protect them, their employees, and their customers, so I’m delighted to be launching the Merseyside Cyber Security Programme today, focused on keeping them safe from the growing threat of cybercrime.'

Chief Constable Serena Kennedy of Merseyside Police, said: 'Cybercrime is rapidly increasing so it is vital that we help businesses in Merseyside to protect themselves. This type of crime is often initially unseen, but it can have a devastating impact on businesses and individuals.'

Serena, said: 'Prevention is key, and I am very pleased to see the launch of the Merseyside Cyber Security Programme alongside our partners. It is particularly satisfying knowing that the free support being offered to businesses is funded from assets seized from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act.'

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: 'Thriving businesses are the engine of our economy and, for our area to flourish, we need to put them in the best position to succeed. In an increasingly digital world, we want to help protect our local SMEs from any potential threats that may come their way – so that they can continue to help our area on its journey to becoming the best place in the country to live, work and run a business in.'

Katie Gallagher, Co-Founder the NWCRC and Managing Director of Manchester Digital, said: 'The threat of cybercrime against businesses has been growing as cyber criminals use increasingly sophisticated methods and technologies to steal money, information or blackmail business owners. One cyber attack against a small business could completely bring it to its knees, so we take these growing threats and prevention against attacks very seriously.'

Pictured are the speakers from the event this morning at the ACC Liverpool, Left To Right: DI Dan Giannasi, Head of Cyber & Innovation at the NWCRC; Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram; Chief Constable Serena Kennedy of Merseyside Police; Merseyside’s Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell and Asif Hamid MBE, CEO of The Contact Company and chairman of Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, who spoke about his experiences of a cyber attack (Credit: Supplied By Publicist).

The Government’s recent Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2023, published on the 19th of April, found that a third (32%) of businesses and a quarter of charities (24%) suffered a cyberattack in the last year. For medium size businesses, this figure rises to 59% and for large businesses it’s even higher at 69%. However, only 30% of businesses said they used tools for security monitoring, and only 29% said they did a risk assessment covering cybersecurity risks.

'We are determined to use that money [repossessed from criminals] for good – reinvesting it to prevent crime and build a safer, stronger Merseyside. Small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of our communities. We want to protect them, their employees, and their customers'. - Emily Spurrell, Merseyside’s Police Commissioner.

The NWCRC was set up in 2019 as a pilot scheme for Greater Manchester to support businesses in the Region with the growing threat of cybercrime and cyber fraud. It was so successful that it was expanded for the whole of the North West and then also rolled out to other regions across England and Wales and included in the HM Government National Cyber Strategy 2022. The NWCRC now has just under 800 members and continues to grow year on year.

Pictured in the images are the speakers from the event this morning at the ACC Liverpool, Left To Right: DI Dan Giannasi, Head of Cyber & Innovation at the NWCRC; Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram; Chief Constable Serena Kennedy of Merseyside Police; Merseyside’s Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell and Asif Hamid MBE, CEO of The Contact Company, which has its headquarters in the Liverpool Borough of Wirral, and Chairman of Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, who spoke about his experiences of a cyber attack.

To find out more about the new initiative and to sign your business up for the training, please visit the NWCRC website.