Grants offered for new cyber defence concepts.
A government-led report on improving cyber skills and tackling cybercrime is to be developed.
With a global meeting of global cybersecurity agencies taking place in West Sussex this week - including international organisations such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - the agencies will discuss how global cybersecurity workforces can be strengthened, from agreeing ways to boost cyber skills to developing new professional standards.
This will lead to the development of the report, expected to be published by the end of the year, which will advance international collaboration on cyber skills and cybercrime.
UK Government Scheme
More immediately, UK government is launching a scheme to deliver tailored support across regions of England and Northern Ireland to fund initiatives which will directly address the cyber skills needs of individual areas.
A budget of £1.3 million is being made available for organisations such as universities, local councils and businesses to provide cyber skills training, and fund organisations developing new innovations in cyber defence across Northern Ireland and England.
Delivered by Innovate UK, applications for the scheme open today and will see grants of up to £150,000 awarded to winning applicants by March 2025.
Feryal Clark, parliamentary under-secretary of state for AI and Digital Government, with responsibility for cybersecurity, said that the UK needs a significant improvement in its cyber defences “after the previous government failed to strengthen our cyber laws – we’re fixing that.”
She said: “Later this year, we’ll bring forward new measures to better protect the nation from cyber-crime and our new regional skills programme will support the next generation of cyber talent and innovators.
“This is a shared challenge, which is why we’re bringing together global allies to discuss and agree steps to keep us safe online, improve cyber skills and protect our economy and public services.”
Written by
Dan Raywood
Senior Editor
SC Media UK
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with more than 20 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 16 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Conference, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and ESET Security Days.
Outside work, Dan enjoys supporting Tottenham Hotspur, managing mischievous cats, and sampling craft beers.
