NCSC Annual Review 2021
Page 39 of 44
Growing the talent
As well as nurturing talented young people into the cyber security sector, the NCSC continued to translate talent into jobs, opportunities and growth. Building on the success of the Cyber Accelerator programme, which supported 40 new tech companies in raising more than £100m investment over four years, a new flexible and open-ended approach was created to help entrepreneurs solve some of the UK’s most important cyber challenges.
In June the successor programme to the Cyber Accelerator, NCSC For Startups was launched. The new initiative retained the Accelerator programme’s core purpose of nurturing new enterprises, and now features continual onboarding of companies, ongoing support to ‘scale ups’, and increased collaboration with the tech sector and investors.
For the new programme, tech entrepreneurs are invited to engage with the NCSC’s experts in developing, pivoting, and piloting products and tools to defend critical areas of the UK’s economy and society. In August the first five startups were chosen with the companies offering solutions to issues such as cyber fraud and ransomware.
The companies selected were:
- PORGiESOFT – SME software accurately detecting fraudulent emails and messages with AI reading in between the lines
- Exalens – a virtual security analyst for digital manufacturing
- Enclave – Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) for servers, serverless and service mesh
- Meterian – SaaS security platform that builds a scalable and sustainable line of defence for apps that use open-source software
- Rebellion Defence – using AI to defend national security systems against threats like ransomware
Case Study: NCSC for Startups
From his work on the dementia ward of a south London hospital, Dr Dexter Penn was only too aware of the everyday difficulties faced by his patients.
What he had not realised was the extent to which the vulnerable, often confused by the increased digitalisation of banking, were victims of scams. It is estimated that some five million older people in the UK fall victim to con tricks each year, collectively losing £1.2 billion.
For Dexter, the subject was brought home to his ward when a patient with Alzheimer's was tricked out of the money she had saved for her place in a care home.
“She lost everything, and when her only relative came to visit and she burst into tears, I resolved to help,” said Dexter, who set about finding out how many patients had been deprived of their money.
Following his research he formed a company, Kalgera, to devise a technological solution to protect the access to victims’ financial accounts which scammers had been exploiting. He built an app which was able to analyse past and present financial behaviour to identify risks and trigger personalised alerts.
He applied to the NCSC’s Cyber Accelerator (now Startups) programme to help develop the app. He said: “Being on the programme gave us the opportunity to work with banks to develop our technology and help identify those customers who were at risk of financial abuse.”
“I’m very grateful for the time it allowed me to reimagine the commercial side of things, and for the support we received from experts who helped us improve the security of our products.”
Case Study: Secure Schools
When home schooling became the norm during the pandemic, it meant an increased risk for schools, which faced the same cyber security threats as other organisations, but with extra sensitivity of data relating to pupils, parents and staff.
Secure Schools, founded by Paul Alberry and Jill Foster, developed an online tool that helped schools address three critical areas of cyber security: securing technology, awareness training and assurance.
Shortly before the first lockdown, the firm was selected to join the Cyber Accelerator programme (now NCSC for Startups).
Said Paul: “The biggest thing we gained was the breadth of experience from the NCSC’s experts, who helped us grow our idea into a scaleable business.
“Educational institutions continue to face a tough challenge in defending against cyber attacks, but we are proud to have helped schools develop their own security programmes and to have trained thousands of staff to recognise and deal with cyber threats.”