28 September 2023, The Hague - A gap has emerged between cyber threats and the measures companies are taking against them. Small businesses are not yet taking enough measures, according to surveys by the DTC and CBS. While practical cyber security education helps, it does not yet prompt every entrepreneur to take action.
Will removing a financial bottleneck encourage smaller entrepreneurs to take some cybersecurity measures? That is what the Digital Trust Centre (DTC), part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, wants to find out in a pilot grant scheme 'My Cyber Resilient Business'. The DTC is making €300,000 available for this purpose.
My Cyber Resilient Business
Micro- and small enterprises can receive subsidies through the 'My Cyber Resilient Business' subsidy scheme for the cost of purchasing and implementing one or more critical cyber resilience measures. These include, for example, setting up backups, a password manager and having a risk inventory carried out. The grant amounts to 50% of the costs charged by an IT service provider, with a maximum of €1,250 per applicant. Companies can apply for this grant scheme once.
Cybersecurity month October
Applications for this investment grant can be made from 2 October to 1 November 2023, 5pm. The available grant budget for My Cyber Resilient Business is €300,000. This budget will be distributed in order of receipt of applications until the grant budget is exhausted.
Advice, offer and grant in 3 steps
The first step is to know where your company's cyber security is still lacking. With the CyberSafe Check, you can create your own action list (PDF) of cyber measures to be taken within ten minutes. The second step is to approach an IT security service provider that can support one or more measures from the action list. The final step involves applying for the grant and uploading the action list and offer(s) to the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO).
"Entrepreneurs are busy doing business. Cybersecurity is often not at the top of the priority list. It is often wrongly thought that small entrepreneurs are not targets, because the reality is different. We would like to encourage small business owners to take action now and quickly implement key cyber measures. Because with a few simple actions, you really reduce the chances of becoming the next victim. Let this grant be the final push to take action today," said Michel Verhagen, manager of DTC.
