Coronavirus: NCSC offers cyber security guidance

The current coronavirus pandemic, and the ensuing lockdown, has led to record numbers of people working from home. Over the past few weeks, we have championed remote working as a solution for charities who suddenly find they need to change longstanding working practices.

But this is not without its risks. With large numbers of employees signing into systems remotely, many of them on devices previously never logged or registered by these systems, even charities with IT departments may find their resources too stretched to verify the identity of these devices and their users. 

Moreover, people are often more relaxed in their home working environment. This can mean that we don’t pay as much attention as usual to suspicious emails. 

The charity sector has long been seen as an easy and lucrative target for cyber criminals. Cyber security has never been more important for the sector. NCSC Charity Sector Lead Cub, Llewlyn Davies offers expert guidance for charities.

NCSC Guidance

As part of managing the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, many organisations will be encouraging more of their staff to work from home. This presents new cyber security challenges that must be managed. Whilst working from home will not be new to many charities, the coronavirus is forcing organisations to consider home working on a greater scale, and for a longer period of time. You may have more people working from home than usual, and some of these may not have done it before.

To help support you through this change, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has released important and timely guidance to advise you on the key areas to focus on, including:

• Preparing for the surge in homeworking
• Setting up new accounts and accesses
• Controlling access to your corporate systems
• Helping your trustees, staff and volunteers look after their devices
• Reducing the risk from removable media

The full guidance is available at ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/home-working