Businesses Urged To Join Police In War On Cyber Criminals

Cyber-crime experts and victims will speak at a conference aimed at protecting North-west businesses from the increasing threat of online hacking and fraud. Titan, a collaboration of the region’s six police forces that tackles serious organised crime, is hosting the conference alongside media company Trinity Mirror, which owns the Liverpool Echo and Manchester Evening News. The event at Haydock Park Racecourse on February 25th (10am to 4pm) is free and open to any business wanting to learn more and gain support about one of the biggest issues facing small and medium sized firms in the region. Guest speakers will include Merseyside businessman Jonathan Kemp, whose company AEV in Birkenhead lost £100,000 when a criminal gang operating on a global scale sent convincing emails to enable fraudulent bank payments. Officers from the National Crime Agency’s national cyber-crime unit (NCCU) and the Cyber Emergency Response Team will also describe the scale of the threat on a national level, while others will show attendees a live hacking demonstration to highlight things that businesses can tighten up. Presentations on where businesses can get funding to help improve their online security and how people can join a government-support information-sharing network of businesses will also take place. Detective Superintendent Jason Hudson, head of operations at Titan, said the event was proving popular and urged businesses across the North-west to register to book their place. He said: “We recognise there is a growing threat from cyber-attacks in the UK so the aim is to raise awareness of the threat within the business community and ensure that they are protecting themselves properly. “The damage a cyber-attack could have on a company could be catastrophic to its owners and employees with huge financial losses incurred as well as significant disruption to day to day operations. The majority of attacks can actually be prevented but knowledge is power and more needs to be done to educate the public about this issue. “As well as helping businesses here in the North-west protect themselves we want to ensure that information about current cyber-attacks is shared across the business community for the benefit of all. “This free event will help us and businesses achieve those aims and I would encourage anyone who is interested to register and book a place at www.cybersecurityeventnorthwest.eventbrite.co.uk” For more information about the work of Titan visit www.titanrocu.org.uk where further information about how the police are tackling cyber-crime can be found.