Ards and North Down Borough Council have launched CyberWise, a fully funded programme designed to help local SMEs strengthen their cyber security and reduce their exposure to attacks. With cyber incidents now affecting a significant share of UK businesses each year, the initiative aims to give smaller firms practical support to improve their resilience.
Running from December 2025 to March 2026, CyberWise offers participating companies a free cyber security assessment, 15 hours of one-to-one expert mentoring, interactive workshops focused on resilience and incident response, and a tailored improvement plan aligned to NCSC best practice. The programme is built to give SMEs clear, actionable steps to protect their operations, customers and reputation.
It is open to organisations with 1–250 employees based in the Ards and North Down Council Area, particularly those committed to strengthening their digital defences.
For manufacturers, where downtime and disruption can carry significant cost, this is a valuable opportunity to access specialist support at no charge.
Expressions of interest close on 17 December 2025.
More information: https://cyberwise.work/