Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg
It’s a year since we published the Cyber Action Plan for Wales which sets out our vision that Wales prospers through cyber resilience, talent and innovation.
The Plan has four priority areas to help us deliver our vision:
- growing our cyber ecosystem;
- building a pipeline of cyber talent;
- strengthening our cyber resilience; and,
- protecting our public services.
You can find out more about why we’re focusing on these priorities on our previous blogs.
Where are we one year on?
A lot has happened over the last year.
We’ve just established CymruSOC, the UK’s first national security operations centre in Wales. It will protect Welsh local authorities, the Fire & Rescue Services and will safeguard the data of the majority of the Welsh population, ensuring that our critical public services can continue without disruption due to cyber-attacks.
The Cyber Innovation Hub, led by Cardiff University, which brings together industry, government, defence and academic partners to grow the Welsh cyber security sector, launched with a £3 million investment from the Welsh Government. It aims to train more than 1,500 individuals with cyber skills, create more than 25 high growth companies, and attract more than £20 million in private equity investment by 2030.
Welsh Ministers have also chaired roundtable discussions with industry, academia, skills representatives and government to help progress the Cyber Action Plan for Wales.
These roundtables have provided an opportunity to focus on the strengths of the cyber sector which include:
- Operational Technology (OT);
- Threat Intelligence, Monitoring, Detection and Analysis;
- Behavioural Science / Human Factors; and,
- Academic research and education capabilities.
Organisations in Wales with these different specialities, work closely together to create an interlinked system that can join-up up quickly. The close collaboration of our cyber ecosystem is compelling and sets Wales apart from other regions of the UK.
Through our work with industry we have sharpened our UK and international message about what we do well in Wales, which will support the growth of our cyber ecosystem.
Supporting cyber talent
The roundtables have also focused on how to attract, develop and retain the cyber skills we need in Wales. Engaging with industry and academia has helped us build a picture of the pathways into a career in cyber, from school age through to workforce retraining.
Building this understanding has resulted in further industry-led collaboration to drive forward a joined-up approach to cyber skills development. This will maximise how industry supports academia and education so that the people we equip with skills know they have a future here in Wales.
In order to have the right skills to grow our cyber ecosystem, we need to support a more diverse and inclusive sector and we have a good foundation to build on with the ‘Women in Cyber Wales’ cluster and CyberFirst Girls. In February 2024, Women in Cyber Wales hosted a national Women in Cyber Conference at the International Convention Centre in Newport.
What’s next?
Together, with the support of industry, we will continue to deliver the Cyber Action Plan for Wales and collaborate with our stakeholders to achieve our collective vision that Wales prospers through cyber resilience, talent and innovation.
If you’re working in a public sector organisation and interested in speaking to us about how your work might contribute to the Cyber Action Plan for Wales, please comment below to get in touch.