Written question asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated) on Tuesday, 9 February 2016, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 23 February 2016. It was answered by Baroness Shields (Conservative) on Monday, 22 February 2016 on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Cybercrime: Small Businesses

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the light of the number of cyber attacks against them in 2015.

Answer: The Government’s National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP) aims to tackle cyber crime and make the UK the safest place in the world to do business in the world. This includes the Cyber Essentials Scheme to protect businesses against common cyber threats and the cyber streetwise campaign which offers simple cyber security advice to small businesses and consumers. In addition to the £860 million investment under the NCSP between 2011-2016, in November 2015 the Chancellor announced a new five year £1.9 billion investment in cyber security to make the UK one of the best protected countries in cyber space.

Secondary information