NCSC Annual Review 2023

It is estimated that the UK cyber security sector is now worth £10.5 billion, with close to 2,000 firms in the UK now actively providing cyber security products and services, employing over 58,000 people – an increase of over 5,000 jobs over the past year. The sector is growing, as is the need for talented professionals. Cyber security remains the largest UK security exports sub-sector, with UK cyber exports increasing from £4 billion in 2020 to £5 billion in 2021, a growth rate of 20%.

The NCSC plays an important role in strengthening the country’s cyber ecosystem, cultivating talent and developing young minds to future-proof our national security. We continue to deepen our efforts in ensuring skilled people, quality products and trusted services are readily available to support organisations of all shapes and sizes.

An essential part of this work is cultivating fertile ground for excellence, at every stage – whether that’s through secondary or higher education or bringing together innovative startups. The NCSC is inspiring school pupils and providing undergraduate opportunities; highlighting universities that commit to excellence in cyber security research and education, helping new businesses create solutions to the UK’s biggest cyber challenges, and assessing and assuring industry to support a thriving cyber security sector.

Rising employment figures, with a 10% growth in the cyber sector last year, demonstrate that we are moving in the right direction. However, a shortage of skilled candidates in the labour market with the appropriate technical cyber security skills is still cited as the single biggest barrier (44%) to recruiters.

Another area of focus within the ecosystem is equality, diversity, and inclusion - an issue that the NCSC is addressing at an organisational level, as well as within the wider ecosystem.

The NCSC understands the importance and impact of an inclusive ecosystem, within our organisation and within the wider sector too. Initiatives like the CyberFirst Girls Competition address an under-represented female workforce. A fresh drive to remove barriers to entry to our Assured Services schemes was also kickstarted, encouraging providers that tackle issues of under-representation in the cyber security workforce to apply.

By developing a diverse, technically skilled workforce and supporting an innovative and forward-looking industry, the NCSC’s initiatives and schemes are strengthening both the UK’s resilience and its world-class cyber ecosystem.

The NCSC’s CyberFirst programme, which provides opportunities for young people to get into cyber security, saw nearly 9,000 girls take part in this year’s Girls Competition. Over 56,000 girls have now taken part in the competition since 2017. The CyberFirst Schools & Colleges scheme saw an impressive 48 more schools and colleges receive a CyberFirst schools award for “first-rate technology and cyber security teaching”. Since the initiative launched in 2020, 105 schools and colleges have attained CyberFirst recognition for helping to develop cyber ecosystems around the UK. This summer also saw 2,500+ students apply for 800 places at our week-long camp; 43% of applications were from female students and 47% from ethnic minority communities.

The CyberFirst Bursary programme continues to support the next generation of cyber talent, offering undergraduates a substantial bursary and paid training each summer. This year, 125 students were offered new bursaries and of those 42% were female candidates. In addition, the programme is supported by over 240 industry, academic and government members.

The NCSC for Startups programme continues to grow, with companies such as REVENG.AI and Lexverify harnessing artificial intelligence in innovative ways. We also ran a series of activities to support programme graduates on their growth journeys. Our alumni have now raised over £512m in investment and created over 1,600 jobs. In Belfast, at CYBERUK 2023, we hosted a local startups workshop focusing on improved collaboration between academia and industry. We also delivered Innovators Challenge events nationwide to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs. Over 95 students from NCSC-certified degree courses took part in the 3-day events, giving them the opportunity to put their cyber studies into practice and create solutions to real-world cyber security problems.

Between September 2022 and August 2023, the NCSC’s Industry 100 (i100) scheme has continued to grow and make a positive impact on our mission. An additional 41 new participants joined the scheme this year seeing the community grow to 123 with a further 98 ongoing enquiries.

Highlights include:

•   The NCSC’s work to bring Fujitsu into the i100 community was included in the PM’s G7 announcement launching the Japan-UK Cyber Partnership

•   The scheme directly contributed external expertise to the NCSC’s work to deliver:

•   UK Legal Sector Cyber Threat report

•   The NCSC’s Cyber Security Toolkit for Boards

•   Cross financial sector incident playbook

The UK government’s flagship cyber security conference, CYBERUK was held for the first time in Northern Ireland ensuring that we have hosted the event across the United Kingdom. Already recognised globally as a hotspot for cyber security innovation, by 2030 it is estimated that the cyber security sector could add £437m in value to the Northern Irish economy, generating £2.9bn cumulative Gross Value Added over the next decade.

Our commitment to ensuring a diverse skills pipeline was demonstrated with a dedicated Ecosystem Zone bringing together key academic and industry partners – including CyBOK and the UK Cyber Security Council – who, with the NCSC and DSIT are creating an ecosystem that is self-sustaining, ensuring dynamic and inclusive delivery and support to the UK’s national security and prosperity.