The British government has launched the first stage of a £4 million ($6.1 million) campaign to educate consumers and small businesses about the dangers of cyber crime.
The British Home Office is inviting bids from media, PR and creative agencies to work on the campaign - with a goal of educating consumers and small businesses on how to avoid falling victim to cyber criminals.
"The National Fraud Authority (NFA) has shown that minor improvements to online behaviour amongst people and small businesses could prevent significant losses online. Many cyber incidents can be prevented by adopting simple steps such as not sharing passwords," the Home Office said in statement.
"SMEs form the backbone of the UK economy and without the resources always available to larger enterprises basic cracks in security measures can appear," says Mark James, technical director, ESET UK.
"When breaches in security can cripple a company in terms of both financial and reputational damage, it’s encouraging to see the government taking a lead in helping businesses build up resistance to threats by equipping them with the skills and confidence to adequately educate staff on the ways to spot malware and hacker threats.”
Security Minister James Brokenshire said: "The digitisation of the UK economy has made our lives easier and has created huge opportunities, but it has also created individual security risks as well. If we are to meet these new challenges it’s essential we step up our efforts to stay safe online.
"The threat of small business cyber crime is real and the criminals involved are organised and driven by profit. By making small changes British businesses can remain competitive in the global economy and consumers can have greater confidence using the internet."
