Protecting Charities and the Third Sector

The Growing Threat to Charities and the Third Sector

There are currently 169,029 registered charities with a combined annual income of £83.8 billion in England and Wales. However, only 22% of charities have cyber security insurance as part of a wider insurance policy.

50% are open to emerging threats

In 2022 a Third Sector and NCSC survey showed only half were fully aware of the potential consequences of a cyber-attack, leaving the other half open to emerging threats.

Higher income, higher threats

Higher income charities were significantly more likely to record breaches or attacks, at 56% for those earning £500,000 or more and 76% for those with £5m or more, in line with previous years.

1/4 of all UK charities

Cyber Security for charities & third sector should be a priority as almost a quarter of all UK charities were the victims of a cyber-attack in 2023.

~785,000

cyber crimes in the third sector

Based on a sample of 1,174 UK charities, the survey said that the sector experienced around 785,000 cyber-crimes of all types.

The impact of any cyber attack on a charity can be devastating, not just for the organisation and those who rely on its services but also in undermining public confidence and support. Taking steps to stay secure online is not an optional extra for trustees, but a core part of good governance.

Helen Stephenson

Chief Executive, Charity Commission for England and Wales

How Veracity Trust Network has helped others in this sector

One of our clients, Langham Partnership exists to see churches in the majority world equipped for mission and grow to maturity in Christ. Langham has pastor training movements in countries worldwide led by local leaders who understand the context and challenges facing the local church.

Over 28 days, we stopped 369 potential attacks from sophisticated bots across their websites. And identified that 20.9% of all their web traffic was malicious bots looking for vulnerabilities and potential attack points.

Examples of cyber attacks in Charities and the Third Sector

Data breaches don’t just hit small businesses with limited resources. Even some of the world’s biggest brands have been negatively impacted.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society (a charity that underpins the festival) was victim of a ransomware attack in January 2022.

They informed their staff straightaway and arranged for disaster recovery help from a cyber security company. Although their system segmentation rules had helped minimise the number of systems the cyber criminals had managed to infiltrate, historic staff information was at risk.

Recovering from the attack cost £95k, of which only £25k was covered by insurance.

So the Society had to fund the difference from their charity reserves.