Scheme for businesses to strengthen their cybersecurity launched

The Minister for Economy, Investment, and Small Businesses, Silvio Schembri, has launched a scheme aimed at enhancing the security and resilience of businesses in the country by offering specialized awareness and cybersecurity services.

This financing scheme, named Cyber Assess, is being implemented in collaboration between the Ministry for Economy, Investment, and Small Businesses and the National Centre for Cybersecurity Coordination (NCC) under the auspices of MITA.

During the launch of the scheme, Minister Silvio Schembri emphasised the crucial role of digital technology for

every business today. "Just as we install an alarm system at home or in the shop, similarly, we need to ensure that we have secure digital infrastructure to protect our businesses from cyber-attacks," stated Minister Schembri.

The Minister explained that this scheme is just one of many initiatives aimed at achieving this goal. "Last year, we launched the Mind the Gap scheme, and the Cyberalt scheme, which is co-financed by national funds and the Digital Europe Programme, will be rolled out in the coming months."

The Cyber Assess scheme has a total budget of €150,000 available from the Recovery and Resilience Fund, as part of the NextGenerationEU Programme. Its primary objective is to support Maltese businesses in benefiting from various services aimed at strengthening cybersecurity.

"A measure like this will help us continue to progress further in the digital revolution we are experiencing. It is worth remembering that our country has made significant strides in this field, especially concerning connectivity and online public services, to the extent that we have already achieved the goals set out in the European Union's Digital Decade in these two aspects," concluded Minister Schembri.

MITA's Chief Executive Officer, Engineer Emanuel Darmanin, explained that as the name Cyber Assess suggests, this scheme will provide an opportunity for up to 30 local businesses to assess their digital systems and infrastructure in terms of cybersecurity.