Lord David Blunkett today launched The Cyber Highway, a new online portal designed to protect the supply chain from cyber attack.
The Cyber Highway will allow large businesses and enterprise companies to monitor in real-time the progress that their suppliers are making, thus strengthening the cyber defence of the supply chain.
The Cyber Highway hopes to be an effective tool in the fight against security breaches, with the online portal looking to reduce the 34.1bn cost of cyber security breaches seen last year.
According to the team behind the Cyber Highway, the online portal helps defend the infrastructure of businesses with which larger enterprise companies trade, by helping to defeat up to 80% of common online threats.
The online portal also aims to empower companies to take control of the Cyber Essentials certification process, enabling them to improve the safety and security of their digital assets.
Cyber Essentials, a UK government scheme and supported by industry, looks to help organisations protect themselves against the most common cyber attacks. Developed as part of the UK’s National Cyber Security Programme, The Cyber Highway is billed as the only solution that can handle large numbers of companies looking to achieve Cyber Essentials certification simultaneously.
Lord David Blunkett, Chairman of Cyber Essentials Direct Ltd, the team behind The Cyber Highway, said: “The UK Government has made significant progress. Government departments now require suppliers bidding for particular contracts to be Cyber Essentials certified and next month sees the launch of the National Cyber Security Centre. These are all steps in the right direction but we can and must go further, especially to assist many more companies to become certified.”
Brexit was not immune to Lord Blunkett's launch of The Cyber Highway, with the former Home Secretary saying that it is imperative that the UK maintains its position as a world-leader in cyber security. Lord Blunkett said:
“It is more important than ever, post-Brexit, for businesses to hold an internationally accepted certification, as competition increases and an extra level of cyber resilience is required.
“That is why taking steps to secure our supply chain is critical. Critical economically, essential in terms of protecting the national infrastructure of the country, as well as the protection of our own personal data and information.”
The Cyber Highway team is currently in the process of onboarding over 300 companies onto the platform, representing supply chain businesses in the retail and technology sectors. They have also signed-up a high street bank as a customer with the intention of rolling out CE Plus (CE+) certification across their businesses and supply chain.
CEO John Lyons said: “We have spent the last eighteen months designing a practical and helpful approach to help de-risk and secure otherwise vulnerable supply chains from cyber-attack.
“As The Cyber Highway is built around internationally recognised UK Government and GCHQ standards, enterprise companies have the confidence that the robustness of the cyber security in their supply chain is something they can trust. Furthermore, protective measures like this will help secure the critical national infrastructure.”