Cyber Security – it’s nothing to do with you right? Cyber Security is the stuff Governments and large businesses need to think about, worry about, deal with, but not your average Joanne Bloggs sitting at home ordering her family food shop online.

Or is it?

The Government is pushing for all UK businesses to become Cyber Secure – this is in part to ensure all the data they hold on you remains safe and secure. When you order from Tesco, Sainsburys or John Lewis, you are sharing both personal and financial details. You may feel that being the ‘big boys’ these companies will be keeping your information secure. And they probably are.

But you share information with a lot of businesses; how sure are you they are all secure?

There is a website that you can go to, type in the name of the company and voila! See immediately if they have Cyber Essentials Certification. A company who does have this certification has passed the Government Standards for ensuring that they are doing everything possible to keep your information secure; of doing all they can to prevent a data breach; of shoring up their networks to the maximum. 

This is not to say that if a company hasn’t got the Cyber Essentials Certification that they have no security in place – but if they do have the certificate, you know that they are taking security seriously.

Unfortunately, there are still a large proportion of businesses who don’t have adequate security measures in place. They may just not be aware of the threats out there, or they may not deem security as warranting the expense – but ultimately, if you are sharing any of your personal or financial information with a company then that business should have the courtesy to demonstrate they are taking your security seriously.