This month sees the NEBRC celebrating our 5th anniversary, and what an amazing 5 years we have had.
Established in late 2019 as a result of a pioneering, police-led partnership, with an overarching aim to support regional businesses from cybercrime and fraud, the NEBRC today has just over 3700 members, having achieved over £125K via membership programmes, alongside additional revenue from our successful student services programme. Over the past 5 years we have also:
- Won several industry awards for the NEBRC, it’s staff and student alumni, this year Jack Gooday won the Cyber Emerging Talent Award at the National Cyber Awards.
- Attended over 300 events and webinars delivering guidance and membership information to SMEs in our region.
- Delivered 117 student services and provided 2500 hours of work experience for Sheffield Hallam and Northumbria students.
- Have a reach of over £50k on social media and 4000 combined followers and new users across our platforms and website.
Cyber-crime and fraud remain a key and very real threat for businesses, with the head of Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Lindy Cameron recently quoted as saying that ransomware – that is malware (malicious software) that attackers can deploy on a victim’s computer network to encrypt files – is “the most immediate danger to UK businesses”. The most recent Cyber Breaches survey (2024) illustrates that 58% of small businesses and 48% of micros have reported an attack. This has increased from 1 in 3 to 1 in 2 being attacked making the threat even more relevant for SME’s.
Our role at the NERBC is to help educate and empower regional business leaders and their teams to prepare for, and protect from, such warnings.
In our first year the Centre was appointed by Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership following a competitive pitch to deliver a £100K programme to support the self-employed and micro-businesses across the Leeds City Region. At the time when so many businesses were facing ongoing change and distribution as a result of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions this support became a key part of the region’s recovery plan to produce resilient and thriving businesses. As a result of the programme, we engaged with over 170 regional businesses and conducted 150 bespoke Cyber Health Checks.
This year we have contracted with NHSE in the North East to deliver cyber security services to independent SME care homes as part of a pilot to look at adult social care safety. There are 3000 homes in the NE and we are currently starting to deliver services to the first batch. We also contracted with Anglo American to deliver 25 hours of support to 25 businesses in the Scarborough area as a hard to reach section of North Yorkshire. Our expansion to securing supply chains and attracting larger contracts ensues that the end user receives services for free. This also compliments our match funding arrangement with 2 of the Police and Crime Commissioners in Humberside and Durham who will pay 50% of all services delivered to educational institutions in their areas.
We champion the development of our staff and have part funded Masters’ degrees and PhD’s for employees, as well as Chartered Management Institute and cyber security specific technical qualifications in order to grow the company and retain good staff.
We are proud that the formation of the NERBC has brought together police, academia, public and private businesses, investors, and members, all working to deliver business resilience services, protecting people, places, and processes from risk – and indeed has been used as a template for other centres across the UK.
We would also like to extend our thanks to all who attended our 4th End of Year Reception event in York, to celebrate our 5th anniversary and another successful year. Thank you to our guest speakers, Chair of the Board Simon Newton from ITPS, Deputy Chief Constable David Marshall from Humberside Police and our keynote speaker Tom Johnson who gave us some great insights into cyber attacks seen on SME’s, policing and insider fraud. NEBRC CEO Rebecca Chapman comments:
“It was absolutely amazing to see so many of our clients, members, board, partners and students at our 4thEnd of Year Reception. Folk braved the extreme weather, floods and elements to get there including our fascinating speaker Tom Johnson, who gave an exciting presentation on social engineering and how he successfully bypassed the security of a well-known establishment . As we enter our 6th year I can’t quite believe we have gone from zero to over 3800 members and have delivered over 300 days of student services. I am very proud to be the founder and CEO of this wonderful initiative in the North East, Yorkshire and Humber and would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year whatever you’re doing from all of us at the NEBRC. Have a great break and we will see you on the other side!”
If you were not able to attend but would like to view our annual report please email us on [email protected] you can also view our End of Year Video here: https://youtu.be/HSP_X23hDnE⭐️
The NEBRC is a Police led non-profit organisation that seeks to educate, inform, and support businesses across the UK on how to protect their business online through good cyber security practices.