TELL a busy person that they’ve been signed up for cyber-security training and the reaction is likely to be a weary sigh.

Jake Moore’s job is not only to convince people that the subject is important, but also to present it in a way that might grab the attention.

He has done that by producing a series of short YouTube videos, using eye-catching Dorset locations rather than just offices and computer screens.

And he astounded an audience at Bournemouth’s first Digital Innovation Show, by demonstrating how he easily found enough information to crack someone’s email password and get access to their online accounts.

“Eighty per cent of cyber-crime is preventable. Our tactic to prevent is knowledge and advice,” he said.

His on-stage demonstration showed how simple it can be to hack someone’s online identity with only a little research.

His ‘victim’ put only limited information about himself on social media, although other members of his family shared freely on Instagram. It was not hard to find out details such as the man’s favourite football team, wedding anniversary and hobbies, augmenting online information with some enquiries to mutual acquaintances.

This research, coupled with the hunch that the ‘victim’ would have an easily-guessable Hotmail email address set up years ago, gave him the information he would need to answer a security question and reset the email password. From there, it would be easy to access a range of accounts.

But hacks like that can be easily thwarted by turning on “two-factor authentication” – so that accounts cannot be accessed without the system sending a message to a phone or backup email address.

Mr Moore, a civilian who previously worked for the police in digital forensics, had given 145 talks in front of 4,000 people in 14 months after his appointment.

He noticed an upturn when the NHS was subjected to the WannaCry ransomware attack.

“The NHS got hit because they hadn’t updated their software with the latest patch. They thought ‘We’ll do it in two days’ time when people are off for the weekend',” he said.

The following Monday, he had 15 emails from organisations keen to arrange training.

Small businesses need to be just as aware of the risk from attackers as major corporations are, he says.

“Smaller companies will say ‘I only turn over £100,000 – why would they bother attacking me?’

“They like the small companies because they will do 50 at a time. Why not do 50 at a time and ransom them for, say, £2,000? That’s a nice day’s work for a career criminal.”

Many businesses don’t set aside time to train their staff. “It needs a boardroom decision to say ‘I think our team needs this advice’,” he said.

“If they haven’t got an hour to spare, I’ve made 12 videos to taking no more than three minutes to point out what something is and how to mitigate that risk.”

The videos have proved very popular on YouTube, partly because they use drone footage of locations such as Durdle Door.

“I like to make them a little bit funny. I don’t like them to have a police feel,” he said.