The Scottish public sector is a prime target for cyber threats. With organisations handling vast amounts of sensitive citizen data, critical infrastructure operations, and national security concerns, cybersecurity is not just a technical requirement, it’s a matter of public trust and operational resilience.
Firewalls have long been a core defence mechanism, evolving into next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) with advanced features such as deep packet inspection and intrusion prevention. While NGFWs have significantly improved security capabilities, they are not infallible, and relying solely on them leaves critical vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit.
For government departments, local authorities, emergency services, and healthcare providers across Scotland, strengthening cyber resilience is not just about blocking known threats, it’s about ensuring that only verified, trusted traffic is allowed into or out of their networks. Here’s why the Scottish public sector must go beyond NGFWs and adopt a more robust, multi-layered security approach.
The limitations of next-generation firewalls
NGFWs work by analysing and filtering network traffic based on signatures and threat intelligence databases and feeds. However, as cyber threats evolve, this reactive approach struggles to keep pace.
1. Delayed Updates Leave Scottish public sector organisations exposed
Cybercriminals constantly develop new attack techniques, and NGFWs rely on frequent updates to recognise and block them. However, delays in deploying these updates, often due to limited resources, operational priorities, or testing requirements, create dangerous gaps. During this window, public sector systems remain vulnerable to new and emerging threats.
For Scottish councils, NHS Scotland, and other government bodies, even a short delay in updating security measures can lead to devastating consequences, including ransomware attacks, data breaches, and service disruptions.
2. NGFWs can only block what they know
One of the biggest weaknesses of NGFWs is that they operate using a blocklist approach, they stop known threats but struggle to detect new, never-before-seen attack methods.
Zero-day exploits, polymorphic malware, and AI-driven attacks are increasingly used by adversaries to evade traditional security measures. If a cybercriminal develops a new malware variant or exploits an unknown software vulnerability, an NGFW alone won’t recognise or stop the attack.
For organisations responsible for critical public services, this is a significant risk. Ransomware attacks on councils, NHS data breaches, and state-sponsored cyber threats are all growing concerns. A firewall alone cannot guarantee protection against these evolving threats.
3. They don’t always know what to allow
Firewalls are designed to block bad traffic, but they often struggle to define what should be allowed. This creates opportunities for cybercriminals to disguise malicious activity as legitimate network traffic.
For example, an attacker might use fileless malware, compromised credentials, or encrypted channels to bypass an NGFW. These methods are difficult to detect because they don’t fit known attack patterns. In the Scottish public sector, where many systems must interact securely across different departments and agencies, this creates a major security challenge.
A smarter approach: define and enforce what “good” looks like
Instead of focusing solely on blocking known threats, Scottish public sector organisations must shift their security strategy towards defining and enforcing what “good” data looks like.
This aligns with the Scottish Government’s Cyber Resilience Strategy, which encourages proactive, risk-based security measures. By establishing the strictest possible controls over approved data, organisations can prevent unknown and unauthorised activity, dramatically reducing the risk of cyber incidents.
How zero-trust principles strengthen public sector security
The zero-trust security model assumes that no user or endpoint should be trusted by default. Every connection and request must be verified before being granted access.
By proactively defining and enforcing acceptable behaviours, protocols, and connections, organisations can:
✅ Eliminate reliance on known threats, Ensuring only verified, approved traffic enters the network.
✅ Reduce attack surfaces, stopping threats before they can exploit vulnerabilities.
✅ Prevent supply chain attacks, ensuring third-party integrations cannot introduce risks.
The role of real-time data and data verification
For this approach to be effective, organisations must be able to thoroughly inspect and verify data in real time. Simply filtering traffic is not enough, deeper inspection and validation are required to ensure that even seemingly legitimate activity is safe and trustworthy.
Organisations handle complex, high-value data, making it essential to deploy solutions that go beyond traditional signature-based inspection capabilities. Ensuring that only data that is structurally and operationally correct is permitted through critical systems is the key to strengthening overall cybersecurity resilience.
The future of cybersecurity in Scotland’s public sector
Scottish public sector organisations cannot afford to rely solely on next-generation firewalls. As cyber threats become more sophisticated, relying on a single line of defence is no longer enough. A multi-layered security approach is essential, one that goes beyond blocking known threats and instead validates and enforces only trusted data.
By adopting ‘Beyond zero-trust’ principles, ensuring real-time data verification, and combining preventative and proactive measures, public sector organisations can significantly reduce risk. This approach not only strengthens defences against modern cyber threats but also aligns with Scottish Government cyber resilience strategies and ensures compliance with national security frameworks.
To achieve this, organisations must look beyond traditional security models and implement solutions that provide deep data inspection and verification at every level. The challenge is not just about blocking attacks, it’s about ensuring only the right information points and data are permitted to be shared.
Public sector organisations across Scotland have an opportunity to lead the way in cyber resilience, setting a benchmark for robust, proactive security. The question is no longer if additional measures are needed, but rather how quickly they can be implemented to protect Scotland’s critical services from evolving cyber threats.
Sam Black is delivering a masterclass at Futurescot’s Cyber Security 2025 conference on Tuesday, February 25 in Glasgow
[Partner Content]