Nearly half of small businesses in the UK (45%) have suffered from infections from viruses or malicious software in the last year alone.

According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, while the number of security breaches has decreased from last year, the scale and cost has nearly doubled.

To help combat this, business owners in Lincoln and Horncastle are being invited to free masterclasses to help them understand how to protect their IT systems from harmful cyber and internet security threats.

Lincolnshire County Council’s onlincolnshire project will host two half-day sessions on 1^st October 2014. The Lincoln workshop will run from 9.30am until 12 noon at the Lincoln Technology Hub at the University of Lincoln, School of Art and Design; and the Horncastle session will run from 2pm until 5pm at the Horncastle Technology Hub at Mortons Media Group.

The free masterclasses will explain how viruses, malware and hackers can impact on business activities, the benefits of cloud computing and how to plan for disasters.

Cllr Colin Davie, Executive Member for Economic Development at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “With the number of internet security breaches affecting businesses in the UK rising, it is critical that onlincolnshire provide this type of business support to help companies avoid threats and the risk of spending a lot of time and money fixing attacks.

“The average cost to a small business of its worst security breach is now between £65K and £115K which is money many companies can’t afford to lose and could put some out of business altogether.

“Organisations need to improve their understanding of the security threats they face so they can do more to protect themselves, and this is one way of doing that.”

This is one in a series of events being run at the Lincolnshire Technology Hubs in Boston, Louth, Mablethorpe and Horncastle.

Set up to help local businesses keep up to date with the latest digital equipment, the hubs are home to a variety of 3D equipment including scanners, printers and cameras which are available to use with just a small charge to cover insurance costs and materials used.

The event is open to all businesses in the area and is part of a wider project of support across Lincolnshire and Rutland being run by onlincolnshire. It is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

As well as learning more about internet safety, delegates will also be able to benefit from up to 12 hours of fully funded support which includes one-to-one business advice and consultancy.

To find out more or to book your free place please call 0300 80 80 120 or email onlincolnshire@lincs-chamber.co.uk. You can also follow @onlincolnshire on Twitter and www.facebook.com/onlincolnshire or visit the website www.onlincolnshire.org

Ends

Notes to Editors:

About onlincolnshire
• onlincolnshire is a Lincolnshire County Council-run project which is part-funded by the East Midlands European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 to 2013.
• In March 2013, the council signed a £48 million contract with BT to provide superfast broadband to at least 88% of county properties by 2016, with the remaining properties having access to at least of 2Mbps broadband. A further investment of £2.8 million was announced in February 2014 which has increased the number of properties to 89%.
• The contract with BT concentrates on an intervention area of over 150,000 premises where existing or planned commercial roll outs would not deliver superfast speeds.
• The Department for Communities and Local Government is the managing authority for the European Regional Development Fund Programme, which is one of the funds established by the European Commission to help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support local businesses and create jobs. For more information visit www.communities.gov.uk/erdf
• Some internet users in rural Lincolnshire experience speeds of less than 1 Mbps. The UK’s average broadband speed is 12 Mbps, according to Ofcom.

For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Jez Ashberry
Shooting Star PR
jez@weareshootingstar.co.uk
01522 528540
07780 735071
@JezAshberry