Technology firm UKFast is committing a further 拢3m to its cybersecurity fund to protect businesses online, taking the total amount donated聽to 拢20m.
罢丑别听 (Building a Safer Environment) initiative has given more than 拢17m to UK businesses in the decade since the scheme launched. Now, UKFast is pledging a further 拢3m, growing the fund鈥檚 scope and enabling hundreds of businesses to strengthen their security.
The relaunch of BASEfund also sees the inclusion of a number of new security products including Threat Monitoring, DDoS protection, web application firewalls and penetration testing.
Manchester-based UKFast collaborates closely with Secarma, the security business owned by UKFast founder and CEO Lawrence Jones MBE, to deliver cloud security solutions and penetration testing services.
鈥淲e spent the first decade and more of our journey explaining why people needed to get themselves online and get themselves higher up the search rankings,” said Jones.
“That has changed over the past decade, as businesses understand the value of being online. Now it鈥檚 our responsibility to help secure those organisations.
鈥淎ll businesses need cybersecurity, but for some the cost is prohibitive and as a result there are more and more insecure websites and applications holding critical, sensitive information.
鈥淏ASEfund is designed to help businesses get the security they need, where it might otherwise be cost-prohibitive or overlooked for other priorities. We鈥檝e set aside this pot of money to contribute towards people鈥檚 safety and security online because these threats have to be taken seriously. By the end of this year we鈥檙e set to have given away a total of 拢20m to protect our clients.
鈥淭he fund is specifically for security products and originally gave people access to firewalls and other hardware. With cyber-threats constantly changing and evolving, we鈥檝e expanded BASEfund to include a raft of security products which our R&D team has developed in recent years.鈥�
The news comes just a week after the announcement that Secarma has taken a 13.3 per cent stake in digital resilience group Shearwater Group PLC, in a deal worth 拢7.4m