Lancashire businesses urged to take up last remaining places for free Cyber training

Two thirds of the free cyber training spots for Lancashire businesses have now been snapped up. With increasing numbers of cyber crime in the region, businesses are being urged to sign up for the last remaining spaces while they are still available.

Statistics from Action Fraud found that in the last year, there have been 7,948 cyber crime and fraud incidents reported within Lancashire, leading to £30.8million of losses. Government stats from last year found that half of all businesses in the UK have experienced a cyber security breach or attack.

The Lancashire Cyber Support programme was launched by the Police and Crime Commissioner Clive Grunshaw last year, with £150,000 invested into creating fully-funded cyber training for 250 businesses across the Lancashire region.

The programme is run by the North West Cyber Resilience Centre and offers a bespoke one-to-one training session with cyber security experts, as well as free membership with regular newsletters and updates on the latest cyber threats.

Since the programme was officially launched last year, 167 businesses have signed up, with 90 people having already attended security awareness training sessions.

Any type of small to medium business, organisation or charity is eligible for the training, from retail, beauty, medical, cafes, bars and restaurants, right through to professional services, such as accountants, solicitors and lawyers.

Jennifer Clough, from Shout Connect, signed up to a cyber security session with the NWCRC, and said: “The cyber security workshop was a really enjoyable, interactive session, which illustrated how hackers can gain access to information.”

Detective Inspector Dan Giannasi, head of cyber and innovation at the NWCRC, said:

“A cyber attack can be incredibly stressful for any small business and hugely damaging both financially and for their professional reputation.

“Cyber criminals are getting incredibly sophisticated with the advancements in generative AI, and phishing emails can be very convincing. We are calling on business owners to take up the free training sessions and membership to help their employees spot potential scams or phishing attempts and help them stay safe against fraudsters.”

DI Dan Giannasi outlined the key cyber crime threats to businesses for 2025:

Phishing attacks

With 84% of businesses reporting to have experienced a phishing attack in the last year, phishing remains the most common attempt at a cyber attack.

Phishing schemes are getting increasingly sophisticated, especially with generative AI, often masquerading as legitimate business emails to trick employees into revealing sensitive information or clicking malicious links. It only takes one click by one employee for a large-scale cyber attack to potentially unfold.

Ransomware attacks

A ransomware attack is a type of malware that is installed onto a computer, or a network, and locks the owner out of their device, systems and data until a ransom is paid. The latest statistics from Microsoft’s Digital Defence Report found that human-operated ransomware encounters had increased by 2.75 times in the past year.

The consequences of a ransomware attack can be huge, from financial losses through to long-lasting reputational damage. The usual entry point to a ransomware attack is through a phishing email.

Spear phishing

Spear phishing is a type of phishing that is highly targeted at someone, with a specific purpose. These scams will be very convincing and perhaps incorporate social engineering.

When aimed at a business, they may be designed to trick someone into paying a large invoice by imitating a senior figure to authorise the invoice, for example.

Supply chain attacks

Cyber criminals can often target smaller businesses as a way to gain access to, or launch cyber attacks on, the larger businesses. This is usually because smaller businesses do not have as sophisticated cyber defences as larger companies, so it is seen as an easy way in. This can result in a number of serious consequences, including data breaches, financial losses and a huge reputational damage.

This means that all organisations need to implement robust cyber security measures to protect their own systems, and also those of their supply chain.

Overall, it’s also vital for every business to ensure that their employees have regular cyber training to help prevent cyber breaches and attacks.

SIGN UP NOW >> https://www.nwcrc.co.uk/lancashire

The NWCRC was set up in 2019 and offers cyber security services delivered by a team of trusted professionals, seconded police officers and cyber experts supported by talented students from local universities across the North West. They also work closely with the NW Regional Organised Crime Unit, which investigates cybercrime in the region.