In November 24, the Charity Commission issued new, more user-friendly guidance for trustees on protecting their charities from cyber crime and fraud. This came after the regulator revealed it had opened 603 fraud cases and 99 cyber crime cases in the past year.
The new guidance aims to help charities defend against these threats by fostering a culture of fraud and cybercrime awareness and includes links to free online training modules for charities of all sizes. Click on the link for more information. It also includes links to free cyber security services and tools to help protect your charity.
The guidance highlights the necessity of having a response plan for cyber attacks to minimize disruption to your charity and ensuring that when faced with a crisis, your charity maintains effective decision-making. Find out more about planning your response to cyber incidents.
The fraud guide offers advice on minimising the risk of fraud and provides resources from the Preventing Charity Fraud website to help prevent, detect, and respond to fraud.
Both new guides encourage reporting all fraud and cybercrime attempts, including those that fail, to Action Fraud. Reporting ensures you receive advice and support to mitigate the damage to your charity. It also ensures that experts like Action Fraud and the police can record and track the types of attacks and build a more accurate picture of the impact fraud and cybercrime are having on the sector.
It’s important to remember that if your charity suffers a cyber attack, it may need to report the incident to the Charity Commission. For further details on serious incidents to report, click the link: examples: deciding what to report.
