Lancashire SME during business meeting

Cyber Strategy Programme

Enabling your business to get ahead on cyber security and develop a culture of cyber excellence

Enquiry
Programme partner logos which include: European Regional Development Fund, Northern Powerhouse, Boost; Lancashire's Business Growth Hub, Lancashire County Council and Lancashire Enterprise Partnership.
Lancashire SME business leader in a meeting with a colleague.

About the Programme

This fully funded 5-month programme is designed for Lancashire SME senior leaders wanting to protect their business from cyber-attacks and develop a professional culture of cyber excellence and awareness.

Our Cyber Strategy Programme will demystify cyber security and increase your awareness of it's benefits. This short programme will not only equip you with the latest knowledge and information on how to help mitigate and prevent attacks but also give you key leadership strategies to enable you to embed a cyber aware culture in your business. By empowering your people, they too will know how to spot, defend and help to mitigate against the increasing levels of cyber crime.

Next Start: Contact us for more information

Supported by Boost; Lancashire's Business Growth Hub.

Enquiry

'It is critical as a modern, innovative business to protect yourself against the increasing number of cyber attacks targeting Lancashire SMEs. And yet the opportunities for innovation and growth using cyber security innovations is endless. This programme will equip you with the tools and skills to help defend against cyber threats and embrace innovative cyber strategies to grow your business.” Dan Prince, Professor of Cyber Security

Computer language across screen
SME leaders talking

Who is this for?

The programme is designed for senior decision makers from ambitious SMEs, looking to grow their business and develop their cyber security expertise alongside their leadership. You will join other SME leaders from a cross range of sectors giving you the opportunity to develop a peer-to-peer network. The trusted collaborations that are formed are one of the most important aspects of the programme, giving you the opportunity to generate greater capacity and confidence as you lead your business.

What's Involved

The Cyber Strategy Programme starts with two consecutive days and an overnight stay delivered face to face to kick start the trusted relationships which will accelerate learning amongst the group. The remaining sessions will then take place on average one day per month, face to face. Delivered by leading academics and business experts from two award winning schools; Lancaster University Management School and School of Computing and Communications

The Residential Induction is your entry point to this programme. It is made up of two consecutive days, with an overnight stay, giving you space to get up to speed and understand the cyber landscape alongside other senior leaders. The induction will feature real-life interactive cyber scenario games, a presentation from Lancashire Constabulary discussing real Lancashire cyber-attacks as well as a demonstration of common hacking attacks and their mitigations. The induction will lay the foundation for the rest of the programme and your business going forward.

Now with an understanding of cyber fundamentals, the focus shifts to your business. You will build a mindset of critical thinking, establishing your responsibility as a leader to create a cyber-secure environment to grow your business. The session will focus on your business strategy and ensure cyber security is embedded.

This workshop will explore what it takes to develop a responsible organisational culture, instilling integrity within the organisation. The session will look at how to communicate risk effectively to build trust and empower staff to take responsibility.

Building on your cyber leaders toolkit from previous sessions, this session will provide you with the tools to define and understand the digital estate of your business. This will enable you to identify and prioritise where to implement cyber security within your business. You will create a ‘Sprint’ project to work with your team to implement your ideas.

To end the programme, you will deliver your Sprint presentations to your peers and consolidate your learning throughout the programme through group and individual reflection activities. During the day, we will discuss how you can utilise your toolkit to minimise the impact a cyber attack has on your business, should one occur. Whilst this is the formal end of the programme, it is just the beginning of your business cyber journey. The programme is designed so you take lessons, frameworks, and strategies and apply them to your business.

Business Man

Benefits to Business

  • Work with like-minded business leaders to future proof your business,ensuring you operate securely in the changing environment
  • Improve awareness and understanding of cyber security risks and benefits
  • Understand due care and diligence within cyber strategy planning
  • Form a range of cyber and leadership tools which can be used in the business to implement ideas and actions
  • Access cutting edge research, facilities and expertise at Lancaster University
  • Develop your leadership style through critical thinking, reflection and collaboration
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Costs & Eligibility

This programme is fully funded and available to businesses who are eligible under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) criteria, as follows:

  • Based in Lancashire
  • Employ between 5 and 250 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees
  • Annual turnover of less than €50 million (or the equivalent in GBP)
  • Received less than €200,000 of de minimis State Aid in the last 3 years

To discover more about the programme or to apply, please get in touch with us.

Find out more about how and why Lancaster University and our funding bodies holds your information.

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