The CYBER+ALT grant scheme is a new initiative that has been created by the Malta National Coordination Centre (NCC) and the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) to provide assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with improving their resilience to cyber crime and focus more on securing their digital landscape.
If you wish to find out more about the CYBER+ALT grant ccheme, then you are in luck! Let’s talk about this new initiative in this blog.
Let’s dive into the details of CYBER+ALT Grant Scheme!
This scheme has been created with SMEs in mind. They are the priority. Everyone knows that today’s world, having a business without an online presence is a recipe for disaster. Setting up an online presence and having technology to help you out in your day to day operations is the way to go. However, maintaining a digital landscape is a task whose costs can be intimidating. That is why the main purpose of the CYBER+ALT grant scheme is to provide financial assistance to overcome cyber threats and minimise their risks.
The CYBER+ALT grant scheme was launched on the 5th June 2023 and will remain open until the 29th December 2023. This scheme may come to an earlier conclusion if all funds would have been used, as the scheme is to be managed on a demand driven basis. The budget that SMEs will be provided totals to €2,000,000; whereby the maximum grant that an SME can benefit from is €60,000. Note that the multi-million grant will be shared among SMEs on a first come first served basis, subject to budget availability.
The project proposal that are to be submitted for the grant must include a comprehensive budget breakdown that in total amounts to a minimum of €20,000 in order to be eligible for the CYBER+ALT grant scheme. Eligible projects will receive a pre-financing aid of 20% and the remaining 80% will be reimbursed as the project is finalised. All projects that will be benefitting from the CYBER+ALT grant scheme must be finalised and fully implemented by the 30th September 2024.
Note that applications are to be submitted online through the dedicated NCC Funding Application Portal accessible from www.ncc.gov.mt.
What are the areas that fall under CYBER+ALT Grant Scheme?
For an application to be eligible for this funding, the applicants must meet certai gateway criteria that have been highlighted and focus on at least one of the following IT aspects:
- Threat Detection and Response
- Vulnerability Management Solutions
- Identity and Access Management
- End-to-End Data Protection
- Enhanced Cloud-Based Platform Security
If you are unsure regarding how these aspects are present in your business organisation, Luke Desira will be more than happy to provide a helping hand and give you further guiance on how to make the most out of the CYBER+ALT grant scheme. Together, you can draft the appropriate course of action, see how to implement strategies and manage the project efficiently!
The CYBER+ALT grant scheme is also suitable for those enterprises that must be compliant with the DORA regulation. Dora, which is short for, Digital Operational Resilience Act, is a regulation, not a directive and therefore all companies that fall under a certain category have to abide by this regulation.
DORA was introduced by the EU and launched on the 17th of January 2023 and will come into affect on the 17th of January 2025. Therefore, come the end of 2024, multiple companies are bound to be scrambling to be compliant with this regulation. Don’t leave until the end and get caught in the mad rush!
