SMEs and micro-enterprises are increasingly "going digital". This also increases the likelihood of incidents due to negligence or malicious attacks. It's crucial that these small businesses are aware of their risks related to data protection, privacy, and cybersecurity, and get help in reducing them. There are plenty of solutions available, but they don't match the needs of small businesses with no expertise in digital technologies or resources to invest in costly and complicated solutions.
GEIGER, an EU-funded Horizon 2020 innovation project, aims to close this gap. The project will develop a "Geiger counter" for cybersecurity, which dynamically shows the level of current risks for the company, and allows the user to take simple measures to lower the risk exposure significantly. GEIGER also aims at building an ecosystem of competent individuals and organisations that offer help, by collaborating with schools and partners to develop a standardised learning programme, the "Certified Security Defenders".
October marks Cyber Security Month, and we took this chance to talk about what cyber threats we face every day and how we could avoid them. It might seem that cyber attacks are far away from us or our business and present the greatest danger only for large corporations. Unfortunately, the statistics say otherwise. Almost half of all the threats strike small businesses. The most common attacks among them are web-based and social engineering attacks, as well as phishing. read more
On 23 November 2020, Max van Haastrecht from Utrecht University gave a lightning talk at Cyberwatching.eu websinar 'Cybersecurity risk management: How to strengthen resilience and adapt in 2021' to introduce the GEIGER project. read more
The GEIGER project was introduced in a Cluj Innovation Days panel discussion "Increasing the digital resilience of small businesses - GEIGER counter for cybersecurity" on 12 October 2020. read more
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How small businesses like Coiffure Loredana benefit from GEIGER: She knows whether she is exposed to cyberthreats and, if necessary, receives support from the security defender of her choice to secure her business data and ICT infrastructure.