Scotland’s cybersecurity leaders were honoured last night at the annual Scottish Cyber Awards ceremony and dinner in Edinburgh.

Individuals and organisations were celebrated for their achievements in protecting people, businesses and communities from online harms, at the glitzy black tie event at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

In 14 categories, winners included the Cybersecurity Leader of the Year and Cybersecurity Company of the Year, David Ferbrache and Quorum Cyber respectively.

There was also a special recognition award for outgoing Arnold Clark CEO Eddie Hawthorne, who retires shortly after nearly three decades at the helm of Scotland’s largest auto retailer.

Hawthorne led the company through the challenging time of responding to a ransomware attack in December 2022. He told the story at Futurescot’s annual Cyber Security conference in Glasgow last month.

Ray Bugg, director of organisers DIGIT, said: “Cybersecurity is a tough profession, one that constantly challenges us, pushes our limits, and tests our resilience – which is why community and collaboration matter so much in this field. We can’t do this job in isolation, and I really want everyone to embrace that spirit this evening.

“It’s about celebrating achievement, championing each other’s successes, and moving forward as a collective.”

The awards also acknowledged promising new talent within the industry, with the Young Person of the Year Award going to Abertay University’s Jack Cavar. And emerging companies were recognised, with True Deploy taking home the Start Up of the Year award.

Scotland’s most renowned cryptographer, Professor Bill Buchanan OBE, was also recognised as Evangelist of the Year, whilst Black and Scot were took home the Diversity in Cyber Award.

The Scottish Government’s Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre (SC3) took home the Public Sector Cyber Impact Award, whilst the Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland were recognised in the Incident Response Award category.

Full List of Winners
  • Start Up of The Year: TrueDeploy
  • Financial Service Impact Award: Morgan Stanley
  • Evangelist of the Year: Professor Bill Buchanan OBE, Edinburgh Napier University
  • Diversity in Cyber Award 2025: Black and Scot
  • Public Sector Cyber Impact Award: Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre
  • Cyber Innovation Award: Approov Limited
  • Incident Response Award: Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland
  • Best Security Awareness Campaign: West Lothian College
  • Cyber Resilience Award: BT PLC & SWAN
  • Cybersecurity Student of the Year 2025: Jack Cavar, Abertay University
  • Cyber School of the Year: Stirling High School
  • Cybersecurity Company of the Year: Quorum Cyber
  • Cybersecurity Leader of the Year: David Ferbrache, Beyond Blue
  • Cybersecurity Special Recognition Award: Eddie Hawthorne, Arnold Clark