All UK social housing providers have been offered free cybersecurity services from the government’s National Cyber Security Centre, supported by Housemark. UK-registered housing providers and ALMOs can now sign up for a range of tools as part of the NCSC’s ‘Active Cyber Defence’ programme.
Housemark’s information security forum worked with the NCSC (part of GCHQ) in developing this package for housing providers. This has coincided with several high-profile cyber incidents affecting housing providers during 2022 where significant disruption was caused by hackers gaining access to the housing providers’ systems.
Sarah Lyons, deputy director for economy and society resilience, NCSC, said, “We are pleased to offer a range of pioneering services to the social housing sector to help providers boost their existing resilience to online threats. We strongly encourage organisations to sign up for the tools to reduce their risk of becoming victims of the majority of common cyber-attacks.”
Arturo Dell, associate director, Housemark, said, “This is an important and welcome step by the NCSC. Members of the Housemark information security forum worked with the NCSC, and we’re delighted that every UK social housing provider can now benefit from these free cyber-security services.”
Housing providers can access the tools from the Active Cyber Defence programme through the NCSC website.
