New Head of Cyber and Innovation joins fight against hackers

Detective Inspector Michelle Ohren has joined as Head of Cyber and Innovation for the Cyber Resilience Centre for the West Midlands.

Michelle joins the team from her previous role within West Midlands Police where she is the Deputy Senior Investigating Officer for the UK’s largest human trafficking investigation. This investigation began while a new legislation was being introduced, and at a time where this crime type was an unknown area of business in policing and communities.

Michelle worked closely with other organisations and charities to provide the necessary support to victims, and the investigation team while raising awareness of this crime type.

Michelle became one of the West Midlands Police’s modern slavery advisors at a Force level, assisting officers across geographical and often regional boundaries. This entailed developing relationships and working in partnership with many different policing departments both in and out of the Force area, as well as multiple outside organisations. This has given her a good basis to building long-standing working relationships which she can bring to her role in the CRC.

Commenting on her appointment, Detective Inspector Michelle Ohren, said: “I’m thrilled to have joined the Cyber Resilience Centre for the West Midlands. With 39% of businesses falling victim to cybercrime in the last 12 months, there has never been a more prominent time for businesses to seek guidance and help to improve their cyber security.

“The team has worked incredibly hard since the centre’s launch last year in helping local businesses understand more about the threats they face and help them get better protected. I’m looking forward to continuing this journey with the WMCRC and reaching more businesses as the centre goes into its second year of business.”

The Cyber Resilience Centre for the West Midlands (WMCRC) is one of nine centres that have been established across the country to provide businesses and organisations, with an affordable way to access cyber security services and guidance to help protect themselves from attack.

Working in conjunction with local universities and the regions local police forces, the WMCRC is able to provide a range of affordable cyber resilience services with the very current knowledge and technical expertise from the UK’s top university cyber talent. These services help SMEs and therefore their supply chain to prepare and improve cyber resilience.

From staff training to reviewing a company’s network and systems, these services will help boost a cyber security strategy.