Greater Manchester police and Manchester Digital, an independent trade organisation for the area’s digital and tech businesses, have launched a new Cyber Resilience Centre.
Set up to protect the region’s businesses against cybercrime, the joint venture has the backing of Greater Manchester Combined Authority and is hoped to add to expertise in the area following the relocation of GCHQ and Callsign.
The centre will look to provide advice and support regarding cybersecurity for business, with experts on hand to support visitors through both prevention and recovery from an attack.
The centre aims to support 150 Greater Manchester businesses in its first year, with local students being offered work experience to help train them for a future role in cybersecurity.
Detective Superintendent Neil Jones has been developing the venture.
“The new Cyber Resilience Centre is an innovative and crucial initiative for Greater Manchester in assisting businesses to become more resilient to cyber-crime,” he said.
“Our aim is to substantially increase the take-up of effective Cybersecurity measures to assisting businesses to be resilient to cyber-crime and safeguard the Greater Manchester business community.
“We believe this work, as well as helping businesses across the region, will support the capability and development of the cyber sector in Greater Manchester by improving the volume of reported attacks and directing support to the cyber security businesses in the region.”
Richard Holmes, Vice President of Cyber Security Services at CGI in the UK added: “As our companies and economies become digital in nature, securing our organisations against cyber-attacks and data breaches has become one of the most important business issues facing organisations.
“We are supporting the Manchester Digital Cyber Resilience Centre as we believe it will provide a valuable contribution to help businesses in the region identify how to improve their cyber resilience.”