Charities to get access to free cyber security consultancy

Friday 01 February 2019

Charities and not-for-profit organisations will be able to receive free cyber security consultancy they may not otherwise be able to afford, thanks to a new initiative.

As part of the Jersey Charitable Skills Pool (JCSP), Jersey companies will be asked to donate a few hours a year of their cyber experts, and charities and other not-for-profit organisations will be able apply to use those services for free in order to help them be secure.

The idea for the JCSP came from the committee of the Channel Islands Information Security Forum as a charitable way to raise the level of cyber security in the not-for-profit sector, and benefit the island as a whole.

While the initial focus is on cyber security, the JCSP is a stand-alone entity. It is hoped that it will expand and evolve over time to include other areas of expertise that will benefit not-for-profits.

Dave Cartwright, founding chairman of JCSP said: "It recognises the fact that charities seldom have much (if any) expertise, and generally can’t afford paid cyber or data protection help, yet they face the same challenges as many companies with regard to keeping data secure, perhaps more so where the charity works with vulnerable people and hence handles particularly sensitive data."