Help us protect charities with our cyber security survey

Fill in our cyber security survey now!

Digital has provided necessary technological support over the past year, with many charities finding virtual solutions to the problems posed by COVID-19. Fundraising moved almost entirely online, physical events became virtual, and Zoom and Teams became essential for service delivery.

But the overarching reliance on digital had its downsides, particularly at a time of tight purse strings. Many charities have neglected cyber security risks, opting to dedicate more of their resources towards fundraising and service delivery. That’s a noble decision, but it creates potential problems in the future, especially when criminals aim to hack data and funds.

The UK charity sector has been particularly vulnerable during COVID-19. We at Charity Digital faced a cyber attack at the beginning of the year and we know many others across the sector have had the same. We upped our security and encouraged other charities to do the same, but the experience was eye-opening.

Cyber criminals do not care about a charity’s mission. They do not have any qualms about hacking a charity, regardless of the cause. Cyber criminals exploit vulnerability and the charity sector has proved exceptionally vulnerable.

That’s why the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and Charity Digital are running a survey as part of a long-term campaign to improve cyber security. The goal is to better understand cyber security in the UK charity sector, which is a particularly important challenge as new vulnerabilities arrive and the sophistication of attacks continues to increase.

We are asking charity workers to get involved. The survey will be running for a month starting from 21 July 2021. Anyone who completes the survey will have the chance to win one of twenty £25 Amazon vouchers, kindly donated by the cyber security experts at Avast.

Avast offers scalable cloud-based security infrastructure that protects organisations from attacks, using advanced threat protection and a team of dedicated cybersecurity research experts. Charities can access discounted products from Avast on the Charity Digital Exchange.

Please follow the link below to fill out the survey. We appreciate your time and support!