IT specialists and business leaders from more than 60 businesses and public sector organisations across Northamptonshire have come together at a session organised by Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner and Northamptonshire Police to learn more about how to protect themselves against the increasing threat of cyber crime.

Cyber crime includes all crimes that take place online, are committed using computers, or are assisted by online technology. In Northants, there were 245 reports of cyber crime in the last performance year (April 2018 – March 2019) and £139,000 was lost by victims. 20% of reports were from businesses.

Today’s (Friday 18 October) seminar, hosted by the University of Northampton, was set up to share best practice, learn about current trends and share information about emerging cyber threats.

Northamptonshire Police’s Cyber Crime Unit shared preventative advice and explained how cyber crime is investigated and delegates also heard a presentation explaining the ways hackers can target a business’s network.

Detective Sergeant Simon Coles, who heads up the Unit said: “The rise in cyber crime is a threat to organisations in our increasingly interconnected and fast-changing world – with the theft of data and attacks on websites a constant concern.

“We have a Cyber Crime Unit in Northamptonshire Police where specialist officers are dedicated to tackling cyber dependent crime, which can be committed to steal personal data, money, intellectual property or other sensitive information. It can also be committed to alter, prevent access to, or disrupt a system, service or data.

“As well as investigating cyber crime, a key priority for the team is to help business reduce the risks to themselves and also to prevent young people from becoming cyber criminals in the first place.”

PFCC Stephen Mold opened Friday’s (October 18) event. He said: “This is the first time we have organised an event of this scale dedicated to tackling the growing issue of cyber crime in the county, which can be disruptive and in some cases truly devastating for businesses.

I am sure that people left with a clearer picture of cyber-enabled crime and cyber-attacks and I hope that many of them will join our Cyber Security Forum so that they can learn from each other.”

The Commissioner’s Cyber Security Forum is held every month and is an opportunity for IT directors, managers and specialists from any business or public sector organisation in

Northamptonshire to come together to engage with the police to discuss and understand the nature of cyber security threats.

Anyone who is interested in joining the forum can find details on the OPFCC website.