Policing cybercrime with the City of London Police

The City Police also play a key national role in online crime as the UK policing lead for economic crime and cyber reporting.

The City Police launched Cyber Griffin, a training initiative that supports Square Mile businesses to protect themselves from cybercrime.

This cybersecurity training is offered free of charge, with tailorable training options for those who are completely new to cybersecurity, right through to cybersecurity professionals in the Square Mile.

Doing business safely in a digital world

The Financial Conduct Authority's mission: our approach to supervision highlights that as one of the world’s leading digital nations, technology is fundamental to how the UK does business in a modern world.

According to the National Cyber Security Strategy, this means that much of the UK's prosperity now depends on the ability to secure technology, data and networks from threats.

Given reliance on digital tools, the economic effects of cybercrime can be significant.

Although there is much uncertainty around the actual figures of fraud, the 2017 Annual Fraud Indicator estimated fraud losses in the UK of around £6.8 billion for individuals and £140 billion for the private sector. More than half of fraud committed online.

The national context

In response to the cyber threat, the government has committed to making the UK one of the most secure places in the world to do business, with £1.9bn in transformative cybersecurity investments by 2021.

Government activity in cyber is directed by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

The NCSC launched in October 2016, bringing together expertise from CESG (the information assurance arm of GCHQ), the Centre for Cyber Assessment, CERT-UK and the Centre for Protection of National Infrastructure.

The NCSC provides online guidance and advice, information, products and education. It works collaboratively with law enforcement such as the City of London Police, defence, the UK’s intelligence and security agencies and international partners.

And when incidents occur, the NCSC provides effective incident response to minimise harm to the UK, help with recovery and learn lessons for the future.

Cyber Griffin

To compliment and support national efforts, the City of London Police offers the free training and engagement programme Cyber Griffin, to support businesses to protect themselves from cybercrime.

The City Police work on the front line in the fight against cybercrime and have up-to-the-minute knowledge on the threats facing businesses.

It use its insider knowledge, specialist technical and compliance expertise, and its trusted and neutral position to support professionals and businesses.

"About 80% of the cybercrime reported in the City of London is from businesses, so it’s important that we work with businesses to make sure that they don’t become victims of cybercrime in the future. Cyber Griffin is about making sure that people at all levels of those organisations and businesses have access to the best advice in order to protect them and their businesses."

Ian Dyson
City of London Police commissioner

Cyber Griffin services

Baseline briefings: supporting staff to do the basics well

People are both the greatest cybersecurity asset and the greatest risk.

This two-hour baseline briefing guides non-technical staff through current cyber threats. It provides simple, practical protection training, teaching the most effective and easy-to-adopt defender skills, sufficient to defeat even the most prolific cyberattacks.

Registration of attendance for the monthly briefings can be made on the City of London Police website.

Groups of over 40 can book private briefings, where an officer will come and speak at a company.

Business continuity: bespoke advice and threat assessment

The business continuity training programme is targeted at those who manage the cyber business plan or business continuity.

The programme offers an opportunity to discuss company businesses cyber planning with experts from the City of London Police and receive an external online security scan of the company.

It provides face-to-face, practical, confidential support and guidance.

Tabletop exercise: simulating the cybersecurity decision-making process

In the tabletop exercise, a simulation takes executive teams through hard cybersecurity decisions about technology investments and practical challenges.

It reveals the consequences of a sequence of decisions, that would usually be entrusted to IT teams, and giving executives a chance to discuss the strategic principles behind cybersecurity with expert police.

Gold/Silver/Bronze incident response training

Aimed at incident responders within an organisation, Gold/Silver/Bronze training gives in-depth incident response coaching to the private sector, covers police major incident procedures such as how to form a command structure and write a decision log.