Gloucestershire’s Cyber business community discuss cyber threats at the recent Insider Media Southwest Roundtable

Gloucestershire’s Cyber business community discuss cyber threats at the recent Insider Media Southwest Roundtable

The recent roundtable discussion hosted by Southwest Business Insider Media was on 11 September at Charles Russell Speechly's office in Cheltenham and discussed whether South West businesses were equipped to defend the ever increasing threat of cyber-attacks.

The roundtable was well represented by the Gloucestershire cyber security community including Rob Stemp founder of Red Maple Technologies and a member of the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Board; David Woodfine, Managing Director of Cyber Security Associates and Chair of the Cyber Business Group and recently landed New Zealand owned business Darkscope’s Chief Operating Officer, Morten Steen Mjels.   

The ‘topic-of-the-moment’ focused on how prepared the region’s businesses were for a cyber-attack and the high potential for Gloucestershire to play a pivotal part with its strong focus on cyber security resilience and the upcoming Golden Valley Development fast approaching on the horizon. 

Cyber-crime is estimated to cost the UK economy around £27bn per year, with this figure only set to grow, with a 64 per cent increase in cyber security incidents in 2023. Furthermore, from 2022-23, a higher proportion of breaches or attacks were identified by businesses in the South West (40%) than in any other region (32% overall). With threat levels higher than ever before, the roundtable members questioned whether companies in the region are prepared for cyber-attacks, how they can protect themselves and how the South West can lead the nation in cyber defence.

The roundtable discussion highlighted that preparation for businesses is essential, and that key factors to be considered should include robust cyber policies, good governance training, supply chain due diligence, testing and incident response procedures.

The group unilaterally agreed that cyber safety must be embedded into a business’s culture and considered at every stage of process and procedure, not as a standalone or outsourced function.

Gloucestershire is in a uniquely strong position to lead on the international cyber-security stage and Matt Bellshaw from HBD, was able to articulate the key importance of the upcoming Golden Valley Development.

The Invest in Gloucestershire team supported the roundtable by facilitating introductions to key participants for the roundtable and were privileged to observe the discussion.

If you are interested in cyber security and how to better protect your business, please see our Growth Hub workshop series below on cyber resilience.