NMBS passes the Cyber Essentials Plus Scheme

NMBS has achieved Cyber Essentials Plus, a Government-backed programme run by the National Cyber Security Centre that helps to protect organisations against cyber-attacks.

Government data, published in April last year, showed significant figures about the number of reported cyber-attacks across different-sized businesses. Almost a third of small businesses reported a breach or attack, 59% of medium-sized businesses and 96% of large businesses reported a cyber security risk in the last 12 months.

Corey Stathers, IT team leader and cyber security engineer at NMBS, explained: “As businesses continue to integrate new smart technologies online, the number of cyber security incidents are only increasing. The financial and reputational impact this can have on companies is significant and can leave them struggling to remain operational.

“We strongly recommend suppliers and members complete this audit, so they can find their cyber security weaknesses and proactively fix them. A common pitfall with cyber security is not having 100% visibility of the systems in place and this audit helps with this.”

The scheme has also helped them to enhance certain areas of its IT systems including firewalls, secure configurations, access control, malware protection and security patch management, which could all have detrimental effects on NMBS suppliers and members if breached.