Castell Howell Foods

Castell Howell is a foodservice wholesaler based in Carmarthenshire; they are the first organisation to benefit from an Intellectual Property (IP) Wales cybersecurity reimbursement grant.

The grants were launched by IP Wales, a constituent member of the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law at the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law as part of a new online initiative, aiming to help businesses protect their intellectual property online.

Research from the United States shows that 1-3% GDP is lost each year to trade secret theft with around 18% of attacks being targeted against SMEs, equating to a staggering £3.5-£10.5billion lost to the UK economy and misappropriated from SMEs each year. Therefore, increased cybersecurity protection is paramount in any organisation regardless of size.

Castell Howell was the only firm the IP Wales project had previously helped in an earlier phase to already hold Cyber Essentials, the UK government minimum standard which helps companies guard against the most common cyber threats and demonstrate their commitment to cybersecurity. This gave them a head start to progress directly to the externally validated Cyber Essentials Plus, in this case carried out by our Cyber Security department.

“Having read the IP Wales SME Guide to Cybersecurity, we decided to increase our protection to Cyber Essentials Plus to reduce the risk of being infiltrated or having data breaches in line with GDPR. With an ever-increasing rise in cybercrime, it makes sense to do as much as we can to prevent attacks on our company. I can honestly say that I feel much more confident in our security now and would highly recommend others to carry out this process. Thanks again for considering us for the funding, much appreciated.”

Paul Rankin, Head of IT at Castell Howell