Companies are nowadays experiencing cyber-attacks on a daily basis. A cyber-attack can cost them on average €25,000. Smaller businesses are often targeted and hit harder, suffering repeat attacks which can lead to damaged reputations and potential closure. Despite this, cybersecurity is still often an after-thought for many small businesses, with only half of European SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprise) investing adequately to address the issue.

Help though is at hand, with the launch of a brand-new Cybersecurity Label. The Label targets Europe’s small businesses, especially start-ups and micro-SMEs that are approaching the IT security assurance landscape for the very first time. Created in a partnership between SGS, the global leading testing, inspection and certification companies, and the EC-funded initiative cyberwatching.eu, the Cybersecurity Label represents an important first step for small-sized companies to understand their current cybersecurity weaknesses. This means that they are better informed on their current status, how to act to improve their cybersecurity posture and potentially explore the benefits of certification.

With the EU Cybersecurity Act coming into force less than a year ago to provide an EU-wide harmonised framework to certify ICT products and services, cybersecurity certification can be a market differentiator for businesses. Certifications can help companies act with confidence and assure their customers and partners of their ability to defend themselves from cyberattacks and data breaches. However, for an SME, micro-enterprise or start-up, taking the first steps to certification can be both complex and daunting.

Performing a self-assessment based upon a robust approach to clearly identify the critical assets an SME need to protect to run its business, and which of those are critical for its customers, and to assess all the various processes and procedures, can avoid wasting time, avoid frustration and save money in the path to enable certification or better compliance to regulations.

The Cyberwatching.eu Cybersecurity Label address this by facilitating a company to carry out a self-assessment which is built on relevant parts of ISO 27001, 22301 or NIST directive. It covers a number of topics and delivered in a concise manner to ensure the SME assimilates clear concepts, smoothing the path to further action and ensuring that SMEs understand the landscape they are working in and the key elements that are addressed by the Cybersercurity act.

More information: https://label.cyberwatching.eu/Pages/Home.aspx

Video: https://youtu.be/s8iFSeibHOg