Pass Cyber Conseil (Hauts-de-France cybersecurity consulting grant)

What it funds

Work by specialized consultants: IT security audits, penetration tests, web security tests, forensic analysis after an intrusion, technical recommendation studies and drafting a security policy. The limit on the card applies to the consulting fees, so to the spend, not to the grant. The detail is on the Région Hauts-de-France page.

Requirements and what is left out

• Anyone not based in Hauts-de-France: the measure is for the region's SMEs on the trade or crafts register.
• Regulated or similar professions, such as liberal professions and pharmacies, and natural persons.
• Recurring day-to-day management of information systems: a support contract is not consulting.
• Anyone who has already applied under this scheme in the last two years.
• Companies in difficulty.

How to apply

1. Choose one or more consultants specialized in cybersecurity: they deliver the work.
2. File the application with the Région, supported by Hauts de France Innovation Développement.

What this budget builds

An audit is worth the fixes it leaves behind. I set the work up so that the penetration test or vulnerability assessment produces a list of actions ranked by risk, and then I close it: patches, identities, network segmentation, with a second test confirming the gaps found are gone.

This entry is informational and is not advice: I do not handle grant applications, and before committing to a purchase it is worth reading the official source above or talking to whoever files the application.