Cyber attacks

The Cyber Security Information Sharing Partnership (CiSP) is a joint industry and government initiative set up to exchange cyber threat information in real time in a secure, confidential and dynamic environment, increasing situational awareness and reducing the impact on UK business.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is responsible for making the UK the safest place to live and work online. ACCA has joined NCSC to help businesses in the accountancy sector be more resilient in the face of cybercrime. Members are now able to sign up to a new, private CiSP group tailored to the needs of the accountancy sector.

Why should you join CiSP?

• Membership forms part of your GDPR/cyber/anti-money laundering protection policies and procedures.
• You will receive early warning of cyber threats and advice on mitigations.
• Offers a wealth of cybersecurity expertise and guidance from both government and industry.
• Offers the chance to learn from experiences, mistakes and successes of other users and seek advice.
• You will receive unique access to NCSC’s network abuse reporting service to help protect your corporate IT infrastructure.
• it’s all free!

The accountancy group is in its formative stage and members will need to select the group when applying. Membership guidelines state:

"Any UK registered company or other legal entity which is responsible for the administration of an electronic communications network in the UK, a UK Crown Dependency, or a UK Overseas Territory and which has a sponsor is eligible to become a Member provided that it is able to confirm that it complies and is willing to continue to comply with clause 2.2.

2.2 Members must have appropriate measures in place to protect the confidentiality of any information received via the CiSP Collaboration Environment. 

2.3 Membership of the CiSP Collaboration Environment is exclusive to the legal entity to whom it is granted and does not extend to any related or associated company. Companies that are a holding company or a subsidiary of a Member are required to apply for membership in their own right in order to participate in the CiSP Collaboration Environment."

How to apply

Members must confirm that they are responsible for the protection of an electronic communications network in the UK. This means that the person joining is responsible for the business's cybersecurity. For practitioners, this will likely be a partner in the firm; for many SMEs, the FD will be the appropriate person.

Members must first register their firm, which requires a sponsor. For ACCA members, this is Glenn Collins, ACCA's head of technical advisory.