Cyber Readiness Institute and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Partner to Help U.S. Businesses Secure Remote Workforces

CRI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Collaborate on New Telework Essentials Toolkit to Give Employees and Business Leaders the Resources to Protect Themselves in Covid-19 Times

WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 30, 2020 – The Cyber Readiness Institute (CRI) today expanded its partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) with the launch a new cybersecurity toolkit specifically focused on helping companies protect themselves, their customers, and their employees as millions have moved to remote work arrangements over the past six months.

Starting in June, elements of CRI’s Cyber Readiness Program were incorporated into CISA’s Cyber Essential Toolkits. Now, CISA will be offering its new Telework Essentials Toolkit with significant contributions from CRI. The Telework Essentials Toolkit provides actionable and practical policies and procedures for business leaders, IT managers and for teleworkers, themselves. CISA has created a dedicated resource for telework cybersecurity guidance, including the new Telework Essentials Toolkit.

Founded with a guiding mission to provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with free tools and resources to help them become more secure and resilient, CRI offers the comprehensive Cyber Readiness Program. The Program’s workforce training is designed to focus on human behavior and place significant emphasis on addressing the impact that the actions of employees have on an organization’s cyber protections.

With so many organizations quickly restructuring their operations to support people working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CRI has produced a series of guides to help managers and employees address the cyber challenges of remote and hybrid work environments where some employees will continue to work remotely, others will come back to the office and some will do both.

“Covid-19 forced our nation’s SMEs to transform overnight,” said Kiersten Todt, Managing Director of CRI. “Telework has created new challenges for employees, IT staff and business leaders. We appreciate the opportunity to contribute to CISA’s Telework Essentials Toolkit by providing easy-to-implement actions, featured in CRI’s resources, that will be enable businesses to continue to thrive in this new environment.”

CISA’s Cyber Essential Toolkits provide small businesses, as well as local government agencies, with guidance that enables the implementation of organizational changes to improve cybersecurity practices. Each toolkit provides links to resources for implementing recommended actions.

CRI has also developed a ransomware guide for SMEs that CISA has distributed to its stakeholders.

About the Cyber Readiness Institute

The Cyber Readiness Institute is a non-profit initiative of the Center for Global Enterprise (CGE). CRI convenes business leaders from across sectors and geographic regions to share resources and knowledge that inform the development of free cybersecurity tools for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Institute seeks to advance the cyber readiness of SMEs to improve the security of global value chains. Our Cyber Readiness Program is a practical, step-by-step online guide that is available in Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and Japanese. To find out more about CRI and to access our Cyber Readiness Program and series of Remote Work Resource Guides, please visit  www.becyberready.com