CyberScotland Bulletin

UK Government launch the UK National Cyber Strategy

The UK Government has published its new National Cyber Strategy. This strategy sets out the government’s approach to protecting and promoting the UK’s interests in cyberspace. Their plan is to ensure that the UK continues to be a leading responsible and democratic cyber power.

The CyberScotland Partnership welcomes the publication of the UK Government’s National Cyber Strategy which aligns with the Scottish Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland. Scotland’s vision is to thrive as a digitally secure and cyber resilient nation. The CyberScotland Partnership will support the delivery of the UK strategy in Scotland to ensure that we are prepared to deter, respond to and rapidly recover from cyber threats as well as being ready to seize the opportunities for growth in cyber jobs and the cyber security industry.

NCSC Threat Report

The NCSC produces weekly threat reports drawn from recent open source reporting. View this week’s report here.

For information on the Log4j vulnerability, you should read:

• Log4j vulnerability – what everyone needs to know
• Alert: Apache Log4j vulnerabilities
• Log4j vulnerability – what should boards be asking?

The NCSC’s Reporting Service

The NCSC is a UK Government organisation that has power to investigate and take down scam email addresses and website. As of December 2021, 130,000 individuals URLs linked to 70,000 scams were removed by the service.

You can help to play your part in protecting others by reporting suspicious activity online and help make the internet a safer place.

HMRC Tax Return

The 31st January self assessment tax return deadline will likely bring a surge in scams and taxpayers should be on the look out for any calls, emails or texts that appear to offer ‘tax rebates’ or ‘tax refunds.’

HMRC will never offer tax refunds by text, email or phone. Please take a moment to think before parting with any private information or money. You can check a list of genuine HMRC contacts and see examples of HMRC scams to help you decide if a suspicious email, phone call, text or letter could be a scam.

Keeping your gadgets secure

From new phone, gaming consoles, smart devices and speakers, there are many tech items around our homes that now connect to the internet. No matter what the device, these can be potentially vulnerable and could leave your data and privacy a risk.

It is important to take steps to secure these items. Read our blog for some tips to ensure your new gadgets are secure and ready to use.

New Fire Alarm Legislation

Every home in Scotland must have interlinked fire alarms by February 2022. Interlinked means if one goes off, they all go off, so you will always hear an alarm wherever you are in your home.

Scammers and rogue traders may try to take advantage of those who are unsure about how to comply and worried about meeting the installation deadline. Be aware of cold callers who say you are eligible for financial support to install new fire alarms. It’s likely they will contact you claiming you have been fined for not complying with the legislation after the deadline in the hope you will click on links or hand over your money.

The Scottish Government have information about the new legislation and what to look out for when choosing an alarm. You can see a list of Trading Standards vetted electricians by following these links to approvedtrader.scot or trustedtrader.scot

Safer Internet Day 2022 – 8th February

Safer Internet Day 2022 will be celebrated on 8th February with the theme ‘All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online’. Celebrated annually in February in 170+ countries, #SaferInternetDay supports the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology by young people.

The team have created a range of free educational resources to help you deliver practical and impactful activities for Safer Internet Day. These educational resources have been specifically designed to support educators in delivering messages about the campaign theme of respect and relationships in online gaming.

To find out more visit: https://saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/safer-internet-day-2022

CyberScotland Week 28th February – 6th March 2022

CyberScotland Week (CSW) is a fantastic opportunity for you and your organisation to learn how to stay secure online.

There are many ways you can get involved in the week and you don’t need to be an expert to host an event. The CSW team can match you up with a great speaker and help promote your event. There are free workshops to help you host your online event securely.

Check out the range of events taking place throughout the week and book your tickets now. Keep up to date on social media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn #CSW2022

Trading Standards Scotland

You can sign up for the weekly newsletter here. Check out their #ScamShare Spotlight PDFs focusing on frequently reported email, phone, text and cyber scams in Scotland.

How to keep your CyberScotland Week online event safe and secure, 20 and 28 January

Running an event during CyberScotland Week 2022? This free workshop covers how to keep your online events safe and secure.

Based on advice from the National Cyber Security Centre, they will share tips on how to keep your event or conference cyber resilient. You’ll learn sensible steps you can take when using conferencing technology facilities like Zoom, Skype, Hangouts and Teams to protect your privacy.

No technical knowledge is required to attend – this is suitable for all organisations running online events.

Two sessions are available

• Thursday 20 January (on zoom), 2pm- 3pm
• Friday 28 January (on Microsoft Teams), 10am – 11am

Book your place here

Testing your organisation’s resilience to cyber-attacks with cyber exercises

Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC) will be giving organisations more opportunities to partake in cyber exercising sessions in 2022.

‘Exercise in a Box’ is a FREE, 90-minute non-technical workshop which will help organisations and charities find out how resilient they are to cyber attacks and practise their response in a safe environment. Currently, SBRC’s Exercise in a Box sessions offer three scenarios, ‘Working from Home’, ‘Digital Supply Chain’ and ‘Ransomware’.

SBRC now offer ‘Micro Exercise’ sessions which combines aspects of each of these with additional, broader cyber security learnings to ensure all organisations, regardless of their sector or level of cyber knowledge, can benefit. Micro Exercise in a Box workshops will discuss some of the basics of good cyber housekeeping. These sessions are free, do not require any technical knowledge, and are open to public, private and the third sector. The next session will take place on the 25^th January.

For more information about these opportunities and to see upcoming dates visit SBRC’s website.

Cyber Exercising Taster Sessions (Public sector) 26 January, 10am – 11am

If you have an understanding of exercising and want to take the next step after Exercise in a Box, then this session is for you.

This taster session will demonstrate how SBRC can help you with free custom cyber exercising. The cyber exercising events will showcase how we can help public sector entities prepare for a cyber incident, increase your digital resilience and minimise the impact of digital threats by using realistic simulations and scenario-based exercises. This session is aimed at public sector organisations, with opportunities for both private and third sector events in the coming months.

Register Here

Technical Bulletin

The CyberScotland Technical Intelligence Bulletin is designed to provide information about emerging or escalating cyber threats and is created in conjunction with SBRC’s Cyber Incident Response team. You can sign up receive the technical bulletin.

Read the latest bulletin here

• Cyber Security Information Sharing Partnership
• NCSC launches early warning notification service