NMBS has reinforced its commitment to data protection and cyber security by achieving Cyber Essentials Plus.
Government data published in April last year shows significant figures about the number of reported cyber-attacks across different-sized businesses. Almost a third of small businesses reported a breach or attack, 59% of medium-sized businesses and 96% of large businesses reported a cyber security risk in the last 12 months.
The Cyber Essentials Plus Scheme is a Government-backed programme run by the National Cyber Security Centre that helps to protect organisations against a range of the most common cyber-attacks.
Using the scheme, NMBS has strengthened its cyber security defences and demonstrated its commitment to security compliance requirements. The scheme has also helped them to enhance certain areas of its IT systems including firewalls, secure configurations, access control, malware protection and security patch management, which could all have detrimental effects on NMBS suppliers and members if breached.
Corey Stathers, IT team leader and cyber security engineer at NMBS, explained: “As businesses continue to integrate new smart technologies online, the number of cyber security incidents are only increasing. The financial and reputational impact this can have on companies is significant and can leave them struggling to remain operational.
“We strongly recommend suppliers and members complete this audit, so they can find their cyber security weaknesses and proactively fix them. A common pitfall with cyber security is not having 100% visibility of the systems in place and this audit helps with this.”
Cyber Essentials Plus goes one step beyond the Cyber Essentials Scheme that NMBS achieved in late 2023. Cyber Essentials Plus uses an external auditor to confirm that the organisation is following cyber security best practices, rather than just carrying out a self-assessment. This new scheme provides a higher level of assurance and validation of NMBS’ cyber security measures beyond that of Cyber Essentials alone.
If a member or supplier wants a sounding board or more information about the steps NMBS has taken on its current cyber security journey, NMBS says its IT team will happily provide guidance and advice.
For more information, contact NMBS or read this blog by CEO Chris Hayward which contains some tips on creating a cyber security strategy.
