State funding to improve the cyber security of companies

One of the biggest business challenges in the near future will be ensuring cyber security, as both the number of cyber-attacks and companies’ willingness to protect themselves against these threats have grown rapidly worldwide. To this end, we offer various services ranging from assessing cyber security vulnerabilities and highlighting problem areas, risk assessments, action planning and consulting to remediation of shortcomings and training,” explained Mihkel Kukk, Head of KPMG Baltics Cyber Security Services.

“By regularly conducting IT audits, IT risk assessments and technical security testing in different organisations, we can see behind the scenes and the picture that opens is not very encouraging – only about 5% of companies are doing very well in terms of cyber security. To map a company’s situation, we interview the staff, check the effectiveness of security measures in place, review the systems and configurations, and play through the stages of preparation for a cyber-attack, so that if a cyber incident does occur, it can be detected immediately and the potential damage to the company would be minimal,” Kukk explained.

He added that even if a company has adopted an information security policy or defined its security procedures and processes, these are often not followed. Based on the situation, KPMG’s experts can make recommendations for improvements and provide an estimate of how much time and money it could take to implement them.

“KPMG Estonia’s cyber security team comprises 30 experts who have a broad background in cyber security and extensive international consulting experience,” Kukk said. “In addition to the expertise of the Estonian team, we can draw on the experience of the cyber security centres of excellence in Finland, the Netherlands, the UK and other countries, and more broadly on the expertise of all 200,000 KPMG professionals from 154 different countries.”

The funding provided by Enterprise Estonia and KredEx is part of a pilot project under the European Union’s Digital Europe programme. Estonian small and medium-sized enterprises can use the grant to engage an external consultant who will help them identify the cyber security level of their IT systems so that they can carry out necessary developments to enhance their cyber security posture and protect themselves against cyber-attacks and the resulting economic damage.

The budget for the application round for cyber security roadmap preparation is 300,000 euros, with a maximum grant of 10,000 euros per project. The budget for the application round for implementing the development activities described in the roadmap is 565,000 euros, with a maximum grant of 50,000 euros per project.

• Applications can be submitted via the structural support online environment E-toetus (via rtk.ee).
• Further information is available on the programme’s website: Cyber security assessment and development grant – the joint organisation of Enterprise Estonia and KredEx.
• Organisations eligible to apply for funding include manufacturing, wholesale, retail, construction, transport, warehousing, and information and communications companies.

We can help you under the above measure in ensuring your company’s cyber security, planning and managing information security activities, implementing cyber defence measures and ensuring business continuity.