A £700,000 fund to help develop people’s skills has been welcomed.
The money from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has been awarded to UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration (UKC3). That’s 20 regional clusters of cyber businesses, employers and local groups which work together for the UK’s cyber security sector. UKC3 was set up to help cyber security businesses combat skills gaps. UKC3 will use the money on opportunities for networking, knowledge sharing and funding to help develop skills and spur innovation.
Minister for Digital Infrastructure Matt Warman announced the funding at the industry event InfoSec. He said: “Our cyber security sector is already worth £8.9 billion and we’re working tirelessly to take its magnificent growth to the next level. Our new UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration will help tackle the barriers to growth, boost people’s digital skills and give firms a new route to develop their business acumen.”
Comment
John Smith, Director – Solution Architect, Veracode, said: “It’s great to see the government is investing £700k to help develop cyber skills in the UK. The current technology skills shortage, especially in security, has been a pressing issue for some time. It’s clear that more needs to be done to prepare for and mitigate the impact of cyber attacks – there are currently only five undergraduate computer science degrees certified by the UK’s NCSC for cybersecurity content.
“Both businesses and developers should benefit from this funding through the UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration. There’s a real need for new training opportunities, accredited courses and qualifications for software developers to get the assistance they need to thrive, as there’s no shortage of security flaws to be fixed in the applications we use every day.
“We know from our Veracode State of Software Security research, for example, that 76% of apps have at least one security flaw. It is therefore essential that application security training is funded by this scheme, ensuring people are equipped with the skills, tools and technology to create software that is robust from the outset.”
