by Health Call on 10th December 2020Cyber Essentials accreditation

This week we gained our Cyber Essentials accreditation. This is means we can demonstrate to our customers that we meet the nationally recognised standard when it comes to cyber security.

Cyber security and protection of IT systems is vital – we all remember the devastating impact of the WannaCry on the NHS and our colleagues. Whilst the COVID pandemic is the top of most of our customers priorities right now, cyber security remains front and centre. The last thing any of us need right now is further disruption.

In our region there have been recent examples of large organisations who have been attacked – two of our universities and one of our local authorities in this year alone. This demonstrates the threat hasn’t gone away and everyone one of us has a part to play. Whether that’s ensuring our IT teams keep up to date with patches, or whether its for us as individuals to ensure we aren’t caught out by scams.

Many attacks are rudimentary and prey on weaknesses in IT systems. We felt it’s vital to demonstrate to our customers that we take this seriously. One of the legacies of the WannaCry attack, certainly when speaking to patients and staff is around safety and security of information. Is my information safe if I share it with you?

We are dealing with confidential patient information, so we need to provide that level of assurance that our systems are protected.

Gaining our accreditation to the national standards set by the National Cyber Security Centre shows that we address cyber security and can prevent the most common attacks.