Blunkett made the remarks at a Building Societies Association event in London last month, attended by Tall Group managing director Martin Ruda, after the Runcorn, Cheshire-headquartered group achieved its Cyber Essentials badge plus accreditation in early May.
The Cyber Essentials scheme was launched as part of the UK’s National Cyber Security Programme in June 2014 to help organisations safeguard themselves against cyber attacks. It is overseen by Cyber Essentials Direct.
Blunkett, who is chairman of Cyber Essentials Direct and was also last year’s Printing Charity patron, said the accreditation was “a fantastic achievement”.
“The Tall Group has demonstrated it is at the forefront of protecting itself and its network of partners and customers, and we applaud the organisation for its unwavering commitment to fight cyber crime,” he said.
To receive a badge, a company must complete a self-assessment questionnaire with responses reviewed by an external certifying body and in order to attain the extra accreditation it must allow a certifying body to carry out system tests, in this case QG Business Solutions, which examined Tall Group’s systems earlier this year.
Ruda said: “This is both a topical matter for the whole country and in our line of business is absolutely relevant and as a previous home secretary Lord Blunkett obviously realises how extensive the potential threat is and what people should be doing to protect themselves.”
Ruda said that there are less than 500 private companies that have gained the badge plus accreditation and “only a small handful” of printers have it.
He paid tribute to the eight-staff IT team working across Tall Group’s three sites.
“I have to say our IT team do a fantastic job," he said.
"There are attempts on our systems dozens of times every day, the extensive protection that we have to build in, handling lots of data, we have to protect ourselves and our customers to a very great degree and it is a constant and permanent threat.”
Tall Group has two subsidiaries, Tall Security, based in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and Northern Ireland-based DLRS, which it acquired two years ago. It has 135 staff across its sites, with sales of around £14m.
