Not for profit organisation the Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC) has appointed a cyber resilience co-ordinator for the third sector in response to increasing threats to charities from criminals online.

The organisation, which supports businesses and organisations in the region, said that recent statistics about attacks on charities from cyber criminals had prompted the move.

The government’s Cyber Breaches Survey for 2021 found that more than a quarter of charities reported a breach or attack.

IT expert Alison Stone has been appointed to the role to deliver the Third Sector Cyber Resilience Action Plan, which has been developed by the Scottish government to protect charities online.

Stone’s priorities include forging partnerships between charities across Scotland. Current figures show there are around 25,000 registered charities in the region.

Enhancing cyber skills and educating charities on good practice online to shield themselves from attacks, are also among her priorities.

“There has been a significant uptake amongst third sector organisations for cyber resilience prevention measures in recent years, but more needs to be done to mitigate the risk from increases in the number of and complexity of cyber-attacks,” said Stone.

SBRC chief executive Jude McCorry added: “Alison joins the SBRC at a critical time for third sector organisations. Digital technologies are being increasingly adopted across the sector and they hold real opportunity for organisations, their service users, staff and volunteers.”

Stone was previously held IT consultancy roles in Scotland with BB Hobbes and 2 Minutes to Midnight.

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