With cyber attacks continuing to hit the headlines the need for greater support and advice is ever growing. To meet this demand, the East Midlands Cyber Resilience Centre (EMCRC) have been visiting local organisations to raise awareness about their national network, which educates organisations on the risk of cyber-attacks, encouraging more to take preparatory steps and take advantage of their resilience services.
To continue bolstering the strength of the centre and the services it provides to regional businesses, EMCRC has appointed Kevin Modiri, a partner and solicitor specialising in data protection and privacy claims at leading East Midlands law firm Nelsons, as a strategic adviser to its board.
The free to access service, which is police associated and government supported, can help assess the effectiveness of a company’s cyber resilience before signposting them to specialists in their area. These professionals can advise on how to strengthen processes, equipment and software to reduce the impact of cyber-crime throughout the region.
Kevin’s appointment follows Nelsons being named a community ambassador to the EMCRC last month. Community ambassadors are businesses that take their cyber security seriously and are aligned with the centre’s mission of improving the region’s resilience.
Kevin said: “Cyber-attacks continue to pose a significant threat to businesses, as client and staff information are valuable assets to cybercriminals. The scale of these incidents is at an all-time high with organisations of all sizes falling victim to such attacks. The financial and reputational damage caused by a data breach can have devastating consequences, so it is important to prepare as well as act quickly when an attack occurs.
“My day-to-day work includes advising businesses, individuals and public bodies on their legal obligations in relation to limiting any risks, proactively tackling breaches and defending proceedings against alleged breaches. We currently act as the emergency service when things have already happened, but I have long wanted to get more involved at an earlier stage to focus on prevention. My role with the EMCRC will help me to achieve this by supporting the board and sharing my specialist knowledge of data protection, breaches and Subject Access Requests.”
Colin Ellis, managing director and the police delivery lead from EMCRC said: “Kevin is well known in the region for his work in this area and his knowledge will be invaluable not only to the board but additionally to those businesses who approach us and need signposting to specialist advice.”
“We continue to raise awareness about the support that EMCRC can provide to local businesses and are currently developing our Community Ambassador programme. Our aim is to have a range of organisations involved so that we can provide a holistic resilience offering to our current and future community membership, helping us achieve our goal to keep the wider business community safe from cyber-crime.”
For more information on Nelsons, please visit www.nelsonslaw.co.uk
