Strengthening the North West’s cyber resilience for 2026

2026 looks set to be another busy year for the NWCRC team as we continue to work closely with small businesses and other organisations across the North West to help them strengthen their cyber resilience against threats. 

The NWCRC focuses on equipping small and medium‑sized organisations with practical advice, training and support to build lasting cyber resilience, in order to protect them from growing cyber crime. 

Looking ahead to 2026, we have lots of exciting business events coming up, as well as continuing to provide free 1-2-1 training for our Cheshire and Lancashire programmes in partnership with the regional police authorities and the Police & Crime Commissioners. 

We’re also excited to become part of the national network of cyber resilience centres, working together to support small businesses and organisations right across the UK.  As a police-led service, we will continue to offer cyber security support to SMEs and non-profit organisations across the North West. 

We’ll also be holding a number of Student Chapter events which showcase cyber security careers with a range of diverse speakers. Watch this space for more information! 

Looking back to 2025

2025 was a busy year for the North West Cyber Resilience Centre (NWCRC), as cyber crime and fraud continued to rise and organisations faced more sophisticated threats than ever before. 

Throughout 2025, we: 

• Supported more than 2500 organisations across the North West

• Gained 900 new members to our organisation 

• Engaged with more than 3000 people at events and presentations 

• Delivered 250 cyber security services and generated more than 700 hours of work experience for cyber students 

Award wins 

In October, our team was recognised for their outstanding partnership work, winning a Partnership Award at the 2025 North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU) awards. Our team was presented with an award for their work in collaboration with Digital Care Hub. They delivered a project that provided vital cyber vulnerability assessments for 10 care homes across the North West. This project tackled critical cyber security risks in the care sector which faces unique challenges due to limited resources and the sensitive nature of the data it holds. 

On top of this, in September, DI Dan Giannasi, head of cyber & innovation at the NWCRC was a finalist in the National Cyber Awards for the category of Cyber Policing Individual of the Year in London. 

Funded programmes with regional police authorities 

Last year, we continued to run our fully funded programmes that make high‑quality cyber support accessible to the organisations that need it most. The current programmes are the Cheshire Cyber Security Programme and the Lancashire Cyber Support Programme. 

Both of these programmes are funded by the regional police authority and the Police & Crime Commissioner, and offer 1-2-1 bespoke training to help small organisations stay safe against cyber crime and fraud. 

Student cohorts and events 

Through 2025, the NWCRC continued its commitment to supporting the talent pathway into the cyber security sector. We employ a cohort of student cyber security consultants every year to give them professional work experience in helping small organisations become more cyber resilient. 

By employing students directly for service delivery, the NWCRC is helping to grow the region’s next generation of cyber professionals while also providing cost‑effective support to local businesses. This model exemplifies how academia, policing and industry can collaborate to develop the cyber security skills pathway and support young people to get a foothold in the industry. 

We also held a number of successful Student Chapter events at different universities across the North West which showcase some amazing speakers, talking about their unique career paths. 

Partnership working 

We worked closely with the Cyber Protect teams within the regional police teams to deliver numerous workshops, talks and town centre walkabouts. We also work really closely with the Police & Crime Commissioners and the Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester to continue to raise awareness of cyber crime and cyber fraud. We also work really closely with business chambers and networking organisations and will continue growing these partnerships throughout 2026. 

We’re looking forward to continuing our partnership working with police, local authorities and business organisations into 2026 to continue making the North West a safer place to do business.