General

CyberScotland Summit 2023 welcomed a sell-out 250 delegates to Edinburgh in the final week of European Cyber Security Month. Based around the themes of collaboration, diversity and cyber resilience, delegates heard from a stellar line up of speakers covering everything from a global perspective on the threats, and opportunities, of advancing AI technology to how we can work together to encourage more young people into the cyber security arena from the earliest stage. We were even treated to a lunchtime story from the just-launched The Bongles and the Crafty Crows book for Primary 1 children. More on that later…

Fostering Collaboration

In her opening address, Clare El Azebbi, Chair of the CyberScotland Partnership, highlighted the Scottish Government’s Taking Stock: report on progress towards a cyber resilient Scotland, which demonstrates the strides Scotland has made in supporting citizens and businesses alike in becoming part of a cyber resilient nation. This includes refreshed funding pots to support pipeline talent, including funding for people living in social housing, who are 20% less likely to have essential cyber skills, and for supporting public bodies like the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre. Working together through programmes like these, we can reach all corners of our society.

Building cyber resilience is a collaborative affair and with intelligence coming from all corners of the globe, delegates heard from the likes of the FBI, Police Scotland, our banking sector and from representatives from our vibrant third sector, emphasising how sharing the right kind of intelligence can help us all.

Diversity

A key theme running throughout the day was a call for diversity in the cyber security sector. We heard from Sarah and Jake, who work as part of Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland’s ethical hacking team, on how we can work together to demystify the sector for young people and make it more welcoming by embracing neurodiversity and developing diverse role models.

Kelly Paterson brought humility to the stage by sharing a candid account of how becoming a ‘completely incomplete’ leader was the step change she needed to be able to lead her teams to great success. She discussed how acknowledging her weaknesses and building a diverse team around her helped her to successfully deliver robust cyber security programme for HMRC.

Speaking of the workforce, we also heard from CyberFirst Girls competition winners from Stirling High School on what it was like to have a dedicated safe space for young girls to explore a career in cyber, at a time when they are making career choices for the future. Their parting words? ‘Don’t make it sound so depressing…’ Perhaps difficult to hear, but with so many positive achievements within Scotland’s cyber security sector we must work hard to spotlight these and to attract and retain a diverse and knowledgeable talent pipeline.

Cyber Resilience

Building a nation that is resilient against cyber and fraud crime is a priority for Scotland and a thriving cyber ecosystem is needed to achieve this. Cyber resilience isn’t just about the ability of our businesses to bounce back in the aftermath of a cyber attack, it’s also about creating an understanding and awareness from an early age and taking this right through to adulthood and professional lives. Bringing an understanding of cyber security to children as young as Primary 1 through a partnership with CyberScotland, Cyber Aware, Education Scotland and the Scottish Government are The Bongles, whose story of attempting to keep their newfound treasure safe from the crafty crows creates an accessible, easy-to-understand analogy for children to begin to get to grips with cyber security. With lesson plans and a raft of teaching resources, we’re building resilience at the earliest stages of online interaction. You can find the Bongles and associated resources here.