Cyber resilience delivered in the heart of the community…

Dorothy Parkes Centre in Smethwick, West Midlands, has a long and fascinating history dating back over 300 years to when Dorothy Parkes left £800 (equivalent to over £500,000 today) to build, amongst other things, a chapel, minister’s house and a church school. Over the years, trustees have ensured the legacy continues to offer support to the local community via the Dorothy Parkes Centre, which opens its doors daily and provides people with a place of welcome and opportunity. 

The centre is a busy and thriving hub, with over 40 scheduled group meetings every week and a packed calendar of other events, all of which keep the team extremely busy. In the long-established spirit of responsible stewardship, the centre’s management team recently decided to review and improve their cyber resilience, something prompted by the increasing need for Cyber Essentials accreditation, particularly in tender situations. 

In order to find out more, CEO Rob Bruce and a colleague attended a Cyber Security Masterclass breakfast in Sandwell, where they were made aware of the Cyber Resilience Centre for the West Midlands and the Cyber PATH programme. In turn, this led to a meeting with Cyber PATH team member Danielle Healy, who outlined the Cyber PATH programme and made recommendations about the services best suited to the needs of the centre. The two services they agreed on were Security Awareness Training and an Internal Vulnerability Assessment.  

In October, five members of the team attended an online Security Awareness Training session, hosted by Cyber PATH Student Eli Bowen, all of whom found it interesting, insightful and highly beneficial in highlighting the things they could do for themselves to become more resilient. All of the attendees appreciated the tone, clarity, and pace of the session, as well as the fact they were given plenty of opportunity to ask questions throughout. Since the session, the five attendees have shared the messages with the broader team, including volunteers at the centre.

Cyber PATH’s Savva Pistolas and Isaac Day undertook the assessment in October/November 2024 and submitted their findings to Rob and their external IT support providers in November. They followed up with a call to go through the report in detail. 

Both Rob and the IT team appreciated the in-depth nature of the assessment, the explanations, and the recommendations, and all the fixes were implemented quickly by the team.

Speaking about the Cyber PATH sessions, Rob Bruce said: 

“Five members of our staff team attended the Security Awareness Training online, which was delivered by Savva and Eli, and we all We also received a helpful handout. 

“I think all businesses in all sectors should take up this training. I also think it should be rolled out in schools and colleges to ensure that everybody is aware of potential scams and the detrimental effect they can have.”

Rob was quick to acknowledge the help and support he had from the Cyber PATH team and the Cyber Resilience Centre for the West Midlands. He strongly recommends speaking to your local Cyber Resilience Centre prior to seeking Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation. In his words: “It was good preparation that makes us much more confident as we start our Cyber Essentials journey, I’d recommend it to all organisations as a fantastic starting point.”