Scottish cyber partnership welcomes new members to reach wider audience 

A Scottish cyber partnership organisation has welcomed two new members in a bid to extend online resilience awareness to more audiences across the country.

The College Development Network (CDN) and YouthLink Scotland have now joined the CyberScotland Partnership, alongside 12 other organisations including Scottish Government, Police Scotland, and the Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC).

The group was launched in February this year to provide individuals and businesses across Scotland’s public, private, and third sectors with guidance on cybersecurity and resilience via the CyberScotland Portal.

The CDN and YouthLink Scotland will broaden awareness of the information hub and ensure all involved with both organisations know how their actions can prevent future cyber incidents. 

Jim Metcalfe, chief executive of College Development Network, said: “We welcome the opportunity to join the CyberScotland Partnership, working with stakeholders to ensure that colleges realise the ambitions of the Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland.

“With over 10,000 people employed by Scotland’s colleges and nearly 240,000 students enrolled, targeting colleges is a vital way to reach a broad audience to elevate the profile of cyber threats and how to actively avoid them. By raising awareness of cyber security and resilience to all in our network – from students to those colleges – we are helping to protect a sector that has already started to become a victim of cyber attacks.”

Tim Frew, chief executive of YouthLink Scotland, said: “We are committed to helping young people and their families make the most of being online – including exploring and experimenting with new technologies. Part of this involves boosting their cyber knowledge and online safety awareness, to ensure they are confident in their digital lives and developing vital skills for future employment.

“The CyberScotland Partnership is already playing a role in embedding cyber skills into the youth demographic and making Scotland a more cyber resilient country and we fully support extending this knowledge to the youth work sector.”

Jude McCorry, chairperson of CyberScotland Partnership, added: “We’ve seen a significant rise in cyber attacks over the past two years across all industries including finance, retail, and education, and the importance of being cyber secure and resilient has never been clearer. The CyberScotland Partnership was established to ensure Scotland’s workforce can access accurate information about cyber attacks and steps to take to become more secure. With CDN and YouthLink Scotland, we have now expanded our audience.

“Everyone has a role to play in cyber protection, whether they are managing organisations, applying for their first job, or studying for exams. Bringing them together and simplifying access to information about cyber security is a key step towards Scotland’s goal of becoming a digitally secure nation and a global leader in the fight against cyber crime.”

More information about CyberScotland Partnership is available here.