CyberScotland Week 2024 has come to an end. The week was filled with events that brought individuals and organisations across Scotland together with the aim of raising awareness of cyber security and helping to build cyber resilience. With more and more of our lives being online, it’s important for everyone to understand the cyber risks and to learn how to protect themselves, their families, and their organisations. CyberScotland Week offered events for everyone, whether it was to help them be safer in their personal lives, or for their organisation to develop robust cyber defences.
CyberScotland Week 2024 played host to over 160 events, which made this year the biggest one yet. The events taking place ranged from a 24-hour cyber marathon which was the first of its kind, to large conferences including Holyrood Connects Public Sector Cyber Security and FutureScot’s Cyber Security 2024, to more focused sessions providing outreach to a diverse range of communities across Scotland.
A big thank you to all those organisations and individuals who got involved to make CyberScotland Week 2024 a success!
Themes of CyberScotland Week 2024:
During the week the central themes of CSW were evident in many of the events taking place.
- Cyber Resilience
The importance of cyber resilience was a constant thread throughout the week’s events. Cyber resilience is an organisation or individuals’ ability to prevent and recover from cyber attacks. Each event, in their own way, helped boost the cyber resilience of the attendees, by providing them with the awareness and knowledge to help them be cyber resilient in their personal lives and in their professional lives.
- Diversity
A key theme this year was diversity and making events available to everyone. CyberScotland Week reached out to a diverse range of communities across Scotland, to provide them with the cyber knowledge they need to stay cyber secure. From cyber sessions for older people, to outreach to primary schools, cyber escape room for students, and networking opportunities and sessions focused on women in cyber, the diverse array of events emphasised the importance of inclusivity throughout the week. During the week we also had organisations from outside of Scotland hosting online events, highlighting the widespread reach of CyberScotland Week.
- Collaboration
An important theme of the week was collaboration, which was present in many of the events. From hosting and attending events to delivering presentations, Scottish organisations joined forces for multiple sessions. This teamwork ensured a wider outreach, effectively reaching individuals and organisations across Scotland.
Event highlights:
Most Events held by a single organiser:
1. Basil Manoussos ,BSc, MSc, MBCS, ACSFC (Basil’s Cyber Marathon and Strathclyde Forensics) – 32 Events
Basils Cyber Marathon : Basil Manoussous achieved an impressive feat running his cyber marathon for 24 hours. All the themes of CSW24 were reflected in the varied events, collaborating with people from different fields, a diverse selection of guests and subjects, all with the intent of helping boost the attendee’s cyber awareness and resilience.
Alongside the cyber marathon Basil organised eight more events with Strathclyde Forensics covering subjects such as Digital Evidence in Criminal Cases, Data Breaches and charities, and more. This gave Basil Manoussos the title of the organiser with the most events for CyberScotland Week 2024 reaching a very impressive 32.
2. Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland – 22 Events
The Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland, a CyberScotland Partner, organised a variety of events reaching different communities at different levels, helping to boost Scotland’s cyber resilience.
Among the various events were cyber related education events for primary schools, “Intro to the Cyber Industry” and a “Cyber Security Careers workshop” for those interested in the industry side of cyber, multiple cyber security sessions for older people, helping bring awareness to an often overlooked community, a networking breakfast for women in cyber, an “Unlocking Lockbit” webinar for a more cyber proficient audience, and more.
In total the Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland organised 22 unique events for CyberScotland Week 2024.
3. Sarah Cunningham(Cyber In Schools Outreach and DEFCON Dundee) -14 Events
Cyber in Schools Outreach: The Cyber in Schools Outreach students took part in connecting with young people from local schools, introducing them to the world of cyber security and technology through 12 separate sessions. Volunteers took part in running a unique series of interactive workshops designed to equip high school students with essential cyber security skills. Through a variety of engaging activities, students learned a variety of cyber related skills such as understanding the fundamentals of encryption using Rubik’s Cubes, developing strong password practices with a dice game, and more.
Alongside those events Sarah also organised two additional events with DEFCON Dundee offering cyber related networking opportunities in Dundee, bringing her total as an organiser to 14 events.
A week of innovation:
Cyber Escape Room
The CGI Cyber Escape was a unique opportunity for a team to work together and ‘escape’ the room. This event allowed attendees to strengthen their team’s communication and cyber resilience in a fun way.
Can you OSINT challenge
Siker Cyber, supported by CyberScotland partner Scotland IS, created an OSINT challenge for attendees to use their intelligence gathering skills to answer questions on a fictional family. The challenge consisted of three tiers for attendees to work their way through, with prize draws for winners to be entered into.
Cyber Quiz Showdown
The Cyber Quiz Showdown let parents/carers team up to go head-to-head with the younger generation, to see who would come out on top and be titled ‘Cyber Champion’. The quiz had challenging and interactive questions, making it an exciting event.
24 Hour Cyber Marathon
The first of its kind, the Cyber Marathon was a 24-hour long event with a host of guest speakers, presentation and key topics. This event brought together the experts and communities to raise cyber awareness and resilience.
‘The Bongles’ reading and ‘The Phisherman’ an interactive lesson
Education Scotland, a CyberScotland partner, ran two events with an innovative approach that combined fun with learning for primary school children. Early/first level pupils were introduced to cyber security through a read-along session featuring “The Bongles”, a storybook designed to make cyber security engaging and accessible. Additionally, through a 60-minute interactive lesson, second level pupils could play alongside hosts in an interactive game called “The Phisherman” and learn about phishing scams in a dynamic and memorable way.
CyberScotland Partnership in CSW2024
The CyberScotland Partnership showcased its strength through the active participation of all its members. Each organisation played a crucial role in spreading awareness about CyberScotland Week 2024 through their respective channels and many hosted their own unique events, helping to strengthen cyber resilience across Scotland.
There were also many collaborations between the partners and other Scottish organisations. Police Scotland held their own events and collaborated with many of the event organisers throughout the week, while Scottish Government hosted 11 events, making a significant contribution. Lead Scotland hosted 10 online webinars to help boost cyber resilience, while Scotland IS hosted multiple events and collaborated with CyberScotland partners SCVO and other organisations. The UK Cyber Security Council and Skills Development Scotland collaborated on “widening your talent pool with inclusive recruitment,” an event that exhibited all three themes of cyber resilience, diversity and collaboration. The Cyber and Fraud Centre were involved in 22 unique events and collaborated with other organisations such as Secureworks and Consider IT. All members of the partnership contributed in various ways throughout the week.
A special thank you to all the CyberScotland partners who got involved to make CyberScotland Week 2024, the biggest and most successful one yet.
Conclusion
Thank you to all of the organisations and individuals involved in helping to make another successful year for CyberScotland Week, proving the value of the CyberScotland Partnership initiative to Scotland’s cyber community. Through collaborative efforts, innovative initiatives, and engaging discussions, this week has not only showcased Scotland’s commitment to cyber security but has also fostered invaluable partnerships and laid the groundwork for continued progress.
Building on the momentum and achievements of this year, we hope to continue cultivating a strong and collaborative cyber community that propels Scotland’s cyber security sector to even greater heights in 2025.
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Cyber criminals are well aware of current affairs, the day to day events which have a bearing and impact on our daily lives, and they will seek different ways to exploit topical events in an effort to make their phishing attempts more convincing – so we have to remain vigilant as they will continue their scamming efforts in 2023.
Phishing emails will appear as being genuine and the scammers will either include a nefarious link that will download a malware to your computer, or direct you to a fake website asking for bank details or other personal information.
Alert: Emerging crime trend where criminals are pretending to be from your bank’s fraud team.
The Scottish Government and Education Scotland officially launched ‘The Bongles and the Crafty Crows’ at the cyberQuarter in Dundee on Monday 30th October, with the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Jenny Gilruth MSP present at the launch.
The unique and first-of-its-kind illustrated learning resource for children aged 4-7, demonstrates the importance of passcodes and passwords to help teach youngsters about cyber security.