Mark Shelford, Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset Police has joined the Board for the South West Cyber Resilience Centre, now in its second year and with over 500 businesses as core members already. Mark holds the national portfolio for economic and cybercrime in the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, and as such is a strong advocate of increasing cyber protection for our business and charities.
‘Mark Shelford is a significant addition to our Board,’ said Mark Moore, Director at the SWCRC. ‘He has a wealth of experience in local politics and a passion for protecting communities. He brings a highly credible public perspective to our work, and his knowledge and network from a national lead position will be invaluable to us. I know that Mark shares our ambition to protect businesses across the region, and the Board will be very much strengthened by his presence.’
Cybercrime in the UK continues to rise, enabled in part by the working from home culture now prevalent in many organisations and by the rise in online shopping. In 2021, the National Cyber Security Centre reported that their Suspicious Email Reporting Service had received 5.4 million reports from the public of potentially malicious material – leading to the removal of more than 50,000 scams and more than 90,000 malicious URLs.
‘Developing the resilience of UK organisations against cybercrime is crucial,’ added Mr Moore. ‘We are working directly with businesses, schools and not-for-profit organisations to help them take those first steps into building their cyber resilience, and to at least slow down the prolific rise of scams, hackers and malware.’
The South West Cyber Resilience Centre supports organisations from Cornwall to Swindon and membership is free. The SWCRC is Home Office funded and police led.
