Boosting cybersecurity – Government launches two schemes for local ecommerce businesses

The Government has launched two schemes to support businesses’ cybersecurity infrastructure, under the titled: Mind the Gap.

"If your business has an online shop and does not have the necessary cybersecurity infrastructure, it is as if you left the shop in the evening and left it open," said the Minister for the Economy, European Funds and Lands Silvio Schembri during the launch of the schemes.

The schemes were setup in collaboration with three Government entities under the Ministry for the Economy, European Funds and Lands: the Maltese Digital Innovation Authority (MDIA), Tech.mt and the Malta Communications Authority (MCA).

Cybersecurity self-assessment is the first scheme and is managed by MDIA. It involves a self-assessment with 50 questions related to cybersecurity spread over 20 categories, which grades the responses with scores from zero to five. This identifies where there are cybersecurity limitations in the businesses’ operations and what is already optimised.

Following the assessment, the second scheme becomes accessible, named the cybersecurity improvement scheme, which is administered by Tech.mt. The scheme covers up to €10,000 in payments for businesses to improve their cybersecurity.

Minister Silvio Schembri said these schemes are "in line with the European funding plan that we announced on Monday with Commissioner Elisa Ferreira, where importance is being given to digitalisation. This is one link in a chain of projects that will lead us to a Digital Malta."