Mind the (cyber)-gap

During the era of the 5G development, Internet of Things, Clouds and Artificial Intelligence cyber risk is at the highest importance to the private and public sector. Nowadays, cyberattacks can result in hacking the bank accounts, leaking private details, causing significant financial loss, damage of the organization, or the technology system failures of any company. Cyber security is the method of securing mobile devices, operational electronic systems, networks, cloud data and any other IT devices from malicious attacks. Nevertheless, nowadays the term has been broadly used – being applied to every type of security, with no proper categorisation of cyber risks and cyber-threats. This creates the risks of misinterpreting the concept, misunderstanding of the challenges, the wrong implementation of the proper measures and in consequence the higher exposition to the cyber-attacks.

Existing studies show that the most vulnerable companies to cyber-attacks are small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The main reason behind that is their perception that cyberattacks are addressed to big companies exclusively. On the top of that, they also lack funds for the investments in cyber security.

The aim of Mind the (cyber)-gap project was to develop innovative training measures and materials addressed to SMEs in Europe to provide in-depth knowledge and competences  on the cyber security concept, range and elements. By identifying the immediate issues of the cyber skills shortages, quantifying risks, explaining cybersecurity consulting solutions, and listing European Security Services Providers, we delivered sectoral-specific assessments and security strategies for diverse SMEs.