The Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA) has launched a cyber-security and resilience organisation, led by the University of St Andrews. The ‘Cyber Nexus’ is a £420, 000 investment over 18 months by the UK and Scottish Governments.
Led by Professor Kevin Hammond, director of SICSA, from the School of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews, it brings together researchers from 14 Scottish universities to tackle issues and share expertise surrounding cyber-security and cyber-resilience
The Cyber Nexus will work in partnership with academia, industry, the public sector, government and the third sector to review and monitor cyber-security and cyber-resilience capability in Scotland. Researchers will raise awareness of Scotland’s capabilities through public education, outreach and skills development.
Central to the Cyber Nexus will be a collaborative approach to working with industry and government to build skills, expertise and co-operation – transferring knowledge, technology and capabilities.
Professor Hammond said: “We are excited by the opportunities that the SICSA Cyber Nexus offers. Recent events have shown how important cybersecurity is to key national infrastructure, such as the National Health Service.
“Dealing properly with this represents both a tremendous technical challenge and a tremendous opportunity to build on the world-leading work that is coming out of Scotland. The seed funding that we have obtained will bring the Scottish community together, focus attention on the key issues that need to be addressed, and create new innovation across Scotland.”
The SICSA Cyber Nexus is UK Government funded, supported by Scottish Government, in partnership with the National Cyber Resilience Leaders’ Board.