WIREDGOV

Yesterday, the British Retail Consortium published a ‘cyber security toolkit’ that will provide retail businesses of all sizes with a practical, step-by-step guide to prevent and manage cyber security threats and protect the customers they serve.

The toolkit is the first of its kind, and provides retail businesses with an overview of the types of cyber threats faced by the sector, an understanding of the risks to businesses, the details of key public stakeholders (such as the Information Commissioner’s Office, the National Cyber Security Centre, and the National Crime Agency), and how to manage cyber risks effectively.

As part of the plan to help retail businesses manage cyber risks the BRC has developed a new ‘cyber resilience lifecycle’, which helps businesses prepare for, respond to, recover from, and review, serious cyber incidents. The cyber toolkit also offers retailers a cyber security check list and a number of other useful resources.

techUk welcomes the launch of the cyber security toolkit and believes it represents a important step in both raising awareness of cyber threats and provides useful, practical guidance to help retailers mitigate against what is a growing threat. According to the recently published BRC Retail Crime Survey, an estimated 53 per cent of reported fraud in the retail industry is now cyber-enabled, costing around £100 million, which represents approximately 15 per cent of the total cost of retail crime.

In the coming months techUK will be looking to work with government and industry to raise awareness of cybercrime in the sector and tackle some of the issues facing retailers.