Crossword Cybersecurity Supports British Educational Suppliers Association Members...

27th January 2022 – London, UK – Crossword Cybersecurity Plc (AIM:CCS, “Crossword”, the “Company” or the “Group”), the technology commercialisation company focused on cyber security and risk management, is today announcing that its online software assurance platform, Rizikon, is being made freely available to the British Educational Suppliers Association (“BESA”) as a single-use cyber security assessment to support them towards Cyber Essentials certification. 

BESA members will be able to use Rizikon to self-assess their cyber security alignment with the UK Government’s Cyber Essentials scheme. A report from the self-assessment will be issued with a high-level overview and ‘Scorecard’, helping them identify areas of weakness. The first ten BESA members to complete the assessment will also be eligible for a one-hour consultation with a Crossword cyber security specialist to discuss their report in more detail. Should the member firm want to move towards formal Cyber Essentials certification, Crossword will, for a fixed fee, assist them with achieving that goal.

Additionally, Crossword will offer a limited free use of the Rizikon platform to BESA members interested in utilising the platform to assess their supply chain risks. Rizikon is a secure, encrypted portal which puts an organisation in control of managing risks in its supply chain and the financial, regulatory and reputational risks they indirectly carry. 

Customers can also opt to upgrade to Rizikon Pro, which allows them to create their own question sets and scoring approaches, enabling a 360-degree view of supply chain risk in a single pane of glass. 

Rizikon Pro also contains standard questionnaires on subjects such as cyber security, GDPR, supplier on-boarding, modern slavery, and anti-bribery & corruption. 

Crossword will provide a presentation to update existing & potential investors on business plans, at the Proactive One2One Investor Forum webinar on 27 January 2022 at 6pm.

Hayley Baptist, Membership Manager, BESA, said: "We are delighted that our partnership with Crossword Cybersecurity will give our members the opportunity to assess their supply chain risk at scale while also looking at their own cyber resilience against the UK Cyber Essentials scheme." 

Sean Arrowsmith, Group Sales Director at Crossword Cybersecurity PLC, said: “We are very happy to be supporting BESA members manage cyber risks across their supply chains through access to Rizikon. Through the self-assessment, Rizikon will help them identify where to invest resources to reduce risks and build resilient supply chains and work towards becoming Cyber Essentials certified. Additionally, those members that are looking to undertake assessments of their suppliers can also get access to a free version of the platform to drive efficiencies and some automation in that process.”

BESA members can will be able to register for Rizikon access through the members area on the BESA site.