CyberScotland Partnership launches flagship awareness week among rising cyber threat

Monday 28 October 2024 Businesses and community groups in Scotland are being urged to sign up to host an event as part of CyberScotland Week 2025. The theme of the awareness week, which will take place from 24 February to 2 March 2025, is ‘Can’t hack it?’, highlighting everyday actions people can take to improve their cyber resilience.

CyberScotland Week is organised by CyberScotland Partnership, a collaboration of key stakeholders brought together by the Scottish Government’s Cyber Resilience Unit with the aim of raising cyber security awareness and building Scotland-wide cyber resilience.

Now in its seventh year, the launch of CyberScotland Week 2025 comes as the threat of cyber-attacks to individuals, organisations and communities in Scotland continues to rise along with the rest of the world. In 2022-23, Police Scotland recorded an estimated 14,890 cyber-crimes – that’s more than 20 a day.

Angela Constance MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs said: “CyberScotland Week is an excellent opportunity to make everyone more aware of the ever changing cyber threats and the actions we can all take to become more resilient. It is also a chance to celebrate the efforts of the cyber security community across all sectors in helping to keep our accounts and services secure, and encourage others to consider a career in cyber.”

Clare El Azebbi, Chair of CyberScotland Partnership and Head of the Scottish Government’s Cyber Resilience Unit said: “To improve Scotland’s cyber resilience we need organisations in every sector, and people in every community, to have ongoing conversations with their staff, members, networks, family, and friends about cyber security, the risks, and what everyone can do to stay safe online. CyberScotland Week is designed to provide both an impetus, and an outlet for those conversations.

“It’s an exciting time for Scotland with the acceleration of the energy transition and the advancement of AI technologies, and we need to ensure we’re protected from the risks so we can leverage those opportunities. That applies to our national infrastructure and the digital systems supporting it, all the way down to our personal and work devices and data. No event is too small to register for CyberScotland Week – every conversation can have a positive impact on our cyber resilience as a nation.”

Any organisation, community group or individual in Scotland can host an event of any size during CyberScotland Week. You can find out more, and register your CyberScotland Week event, at the CyberScotland website.

Can’t hack it?

According to guidance from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), everyday things people can do to improve their cyber resilience include:

For individuals

• Using a strong and unique password for each site
• Turning on two-factor authentication
• Backing up your data (and enabling automatic backups)
• Reporting phishing scams to your IT department at work
• Installing the latest updates as soon as they’re available

For organisations

• Installing antivirus software
• Preventing staff from downloading dubious apps
• Keeping all your IT equipment up to date (‘patching’)
• Controlling how USB drives are used
• Switching on your firewall.

Visit the NCSC website for further guidance.