As mentioned in previous issues of In Practice, the threat to businesses from cybersecurity attacks continues to increase, and the expectation is that cybercriminals will seek to attack businesses at predicted peak times of the year – for instance, year end – so practitioners need to continue to be vigilant.
To support members in practice, and so you can support your clients, we’ve pulled together useful ACCA and partner guidance and resources on cybersecurity.
National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)
Our colleagues at NCSC have shared a link to a helpful introductory video on phishing threats.
One of the fastest-growing areas of cyber threat is ransomware, and an NCSC blog on this can be found via The rise of ransomware. NCSC urges all organisations to read and follow the guidance on mitigating malware and ransomware. This advice details a number of steps that organisations can take to disrupt ransomware attack vectors and enable effective recovery from attacks.
Also view NCSC’s free staff training package.
NCSC’s Early Warning service uses a range of information feeds to notify organisations of cyber incidents, malicious activity and web-based vulnerabilities on your public-facing domains and IP ranges. Signing up also ensures that NCSC can contact organisations quickly in case of an incident.
Wolfberry Cyber
Wolfberry Cyber has teamed up with ACCA to offer resources, discounts and offers on cybersecurity services for ACCA members, available through the ACCA member hub. As part of our partnership, members can access a free one-hour cyber health check.
We’ll be running a ‘Live Hack’ virtual event on 18 November with Wolfberry Cyber, so please keep an eye out for the booking details for this event.
ACCA fintech package
Our new Professional Certificate in FinTech for Finance and Business Leaders will teach you:
- the practical skills needed to understand and implement effective cybersecurity, machine learning using Python and robotic process and intelligent automation in the finance function
- how machine-learning tools are used to develop simple solutions relevant to accountancy, business and finance
- the steps needed to manage the risk of potential cyber threats and the vulnerabilities they may exploit and the business impacts of a cyber attack
- how automation can assist in the efficiency of the finance function.