The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Charity registered in Scotland SC003558. Registered office Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh EH3 6BB.
Data and digital - secure yourself!
It seems that every week brings news of a different cyber attack – including those that impact our lives at individuals. (I am writing this on the week of the Travelex attack, when I had a friend travelling who’s only mention of payment was via the Travelex system).
Cyber criminals target organisations for a number of reasons – to gain access to data, to monetise this data, cause a massive inconvenience to the organisation, to deface or destroy a website of a company with ideals which are not in accordance with their own… the list is huge.
And charities and third sector organisations are not immune – whilst we can take the view of “why do they want to attack us when we are working for the greater good of humanity,” unfortunately your average cyber criminal doesn’t see it that way. To him, your organisation is a potential route to revenue and the less protected you are, the easier it is for them to gain access to your network, systems and data.
Hopefully, having scared you sufficiently with my intro, you will be keen to attend the forthcoming Cyber Resilience Unit session at The Gathering, scheduled for Thursday 20th February 2020 at 1.30pm. During this session, my colleague Kirstie Steele from the Cyber Resilience Unit at Scottish Government and myself will be sharing information about cybercrime and providing helpful advice on small, practical steps you can take that will improve the security of your organisation and indeed, the lives of yourself and your family. Remember, we too as individuals are an attractive target to someone looking to get rich via someone else bank account!
The session will be informative and helpful and is complemented by access to the Cyber Resilience Unit staff who are available at their stand in the exhibition hall. This is a great opportunity to have a one to one discussion with someone knowledgeable about cyber crime and what you can do to avoid becoming a victim.
They will also point you in the direction of great resources that provide cyber education in a fun and interactive way – promoting the message of cyber resilience within your charity doesn’t need to be dry and boring. I would really encourage anyone with an interest in learning more about the murky world of the cyber criminal to get a long to this session. It will be an eye-opener!
For further details, contact Alison Stone on alison.stone@scvo.scot
