How to improve your charity’s cyber security
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has recently seen a rise in phishing attempts within the UK charity sector.
It’s really important to be aware of different types of scams and cyber attacks, including phishing, so you can improve your cyber security, identify potential threats and keep your charity safe.
What is phishing?
Phishing is a form of cyber attack during which scammers send emails or messages pretending to be a trusted person in order to encourage you to reveal personal information, such as passwords or banking details. The emails may appear genuine, but will contain malicious links, harmful attachments or requests for sensitive information.
These deceptive tactics aim to trick employees and volunteers into sharing sensitive information or granting unauthorised access to systems.
How can I stay safe?
The NCSC have produced a range of helpful resources to help you understand how to avoid phishing attacks, and how to improve your cyber security more generally. You can view these here:
- Phishing attacks: defending your organisation
- Avoiding phishing attacks (this is part of the small business cyber security guide which also has lots of helpful information relevant to charities)
- Charity cyber security guide (infographic)
- NCSC cyber security training for staff
Please remember never to click on suspicious links or download unknown attachments. If you receive a malicious email, you can report it via the Action Fraud portal or by emailing the NCSC incident report service at report@phishing.gov.uk.