Policy paper

DSIT cyber security newsletter - March 2025

Published 13 March 2025

1. Director’s message

Every year, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology undertakes an exercise to assess the UK cyber sector’s size, employment, and contribution to our economy. Yesterday, we published the latest edition – and it makes for some incredible reading. There is continued strong growth for our sector. Revenue has now reached £13.2 billion, up 12% since last year; employment has reached 67,300, up 11% since last year; and gross value added has reached £7.8 billion, an impressive 21% increase since last year. These are great figures and a testament to the hard work and innovation of our entrepreneurs and companies.
 
These figures show that the UK continues to have one of the largest cyber security sectors in the world, which is thriving and playing a direct role supporting growth.  We are proud to be home to great companies, innovators, and start-ups, who form part of the essential cyber ecosystem that helps us promote a secure and resilient digital economy.
 
As we come to the end of the financial year, there have also been some great opportunities to celebrate the successes of some of our programmes. Last month, for example, we hosted events to showcase the achievements of our latest cohort of CyberASAP. This included an alumni conference, a House of Lords reception and a Demo Day, where cohort members could showcase their innovations with investors, buyers and other industry stakeholders. We also hosted a graduation event for Cyber Runway in Salford, which brought together participants from across the programme for a day of panel discussions, networking and celebration.  On a personal note, I very much enjoyed visiting Belfast for Northern Ireland Cyber Week, speaking at a panel in the remarkable setting of Crumlin Road Gaol.
 
Finally, the government has published its Digital Inclusion Action Plan, which sets our strategy to ensure everyone has access to the skills, support and confidence to engage in our modern digital society and economy. As ever more of our lives, work and public services are delivered digitally it is critical we ensure no-one is left behind and everyone can benefit from technology.

Rod Latham  
Director, Cyber Security and Digital Identity

2. New analysis shows UK cyber sector has grown by 12%

DSIT has published the 2025 edition of the Cyber Sectoral Analysis, which shows the UK cyber sector has grown 12% in the past year and generated 6,600 new jobs. The analysis details the current state of the UK cyber sector, including the number of businesses, the sector’s contribution to the UK economy, employment and the products and services offered by these firms.
 
Revenue for the sector has reached £13.2 billion, up 12%, and there are now 67,300 people employed in more than 2,000 cyber security businesses. In terms of investment, £206 million was raised across 59 deals within dedicated cyber security firms in 2024.
 
Alongside this new analysis the government has published a report into the AI and software cyber security markets, providing an in depth look at these two subsectors.

3. Cyber Local funding available – register your interest now

Cyber Local is a UK government scheme to deliver tailored support for the cyber security sector across regions of England. It is part of the government’s work to kickstart economic growth and ensure good jobs, skills and growth benefit every part of the country. The fund is already supporting 31 schemes across the country helping to support local ecosystems and to inspire people to pursue a cyber career.
 
The Cyber Local programme is now offering further government grant funding to support programmes that grow the cyber security sector and develop cyber security skills. Funded by DSIT, and delivered by Innovate UK, the programme is now open, and you must submit an expression of interest by midnight on Friday 14 March.

4. Funding bids open for the Defence and Security Accelerator

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is holding its first cycle of open call for innovation in 2025. DASA are looking for innovative ideas that address the challenges faced by the Defence sector, candidates will then pitch their proposals to defence and security stakeholders. The open call is a broad mechanism that allows innovators to bring forward disruptive and innovative ideas across a broad array of categories, which may otherwise be overlooked.

The deadlines for submissions is midday on 29 April 2025.

5. End of year events celebrate success of CyberASAP

The Cyber Academic Startup Accelerator Programme (CyberASAP) has celebrated its mission to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in cyber security with three events. These marked the significant achievements of the programme, which has now helped over 34 start ups commercialise their academic research in cyber security.

On 25 February the inaugural CyberASAP Alumni Conference was held in London, featuring investor panels and interactive roundtables. The conference created a platform for alumni to exchange ideas and forge new partnerships within the cyber security ecosystem. A celebratory reception at the House of Lords followed that evening, honouring the graduates of CyberASAP’s current cohort and acknowledging their hard work.
 
The events culminated on 26 February with a showcase Demo Day in Canary Wharf, where CyberASAP graduates demonstrated their proof of concepts to industry experts, potential customers and investors. The day began with a keynote speech from the Minister for AI & Digital Government, Feryal Clark MP. The Minister met with CyberASAP Alumni and current graduates to discuss how their technological innovations will shape our future digital resilience and safeguard critical infrastructure.

6. Businesses graduate from Cyber Runway & visit Washington for trade mission

In February the graduation event for Cyber Runway, the DSIT-funded accelerator for UK cyber entrepreneurs and businesses, was held at the Lowry in Salford. The event provided an opportunity for participants from across the four streams of the programme to get together for a day of networking, panel discussions, pitch battles and an award ceremony.
 
Last month a delegation of five Cyber Runway companies participated in a trade mission to Washington in the United States to learn more about the local ecosystem and possibilities for international expansion. As part of the mission the companies met with representatives of Comcast to showcase their companies and the Maryland Chamber of Commerce. Over 200 companies have now graduated from the Cyber Runway programme and benefitted from government support to grow and develop their businesses.

7. UK Cyber Team to compete in first international competition

The UK Cyber Team will travel to Ireland for their first cyber Capture the Flag competition on Saturday 22 March 2025.
 
The UK Cyber Team is a national initiative for 18-25-year-olds, designed to identify and develop top cyber security talent. Over 1,300 young people took part in a UK wide competition, with the top 30 selected to form the UK Cyber Team and represent the UK in international cyber competitions, including the European Cyber Security Challenge and the International Cybersecurity Challenge. These competitions provide a platform to showcase their skills, tackle real-world cyber challenges, and help bridge the cybersecurity skills gap.
 
The ZeroDays CTF, Ireland’s national CTF, has been running since 2015 and will feature over 100 teams. The UK Cyber Team will put their skills to the test against participants from Germany, Denmark, Slovakia, Ireland, India, and Serbia.

8. Minister Clark visits the Northern Irish cyber ecosystem

UK Cyber Security Minister Feryal Clark touched down in Belfast on 3 March, banging the drum for more people to come forward and bolster the UK’s cyber security ranks to help fill an annual shortfall of 3,500 cyber roles.
 
Coinciding with both Cyber NI Week and National Careers Week, the Minister spent her time in Belfast getting hands on with Northern Ireland’s cyber expertise. The Minister saw first-hand how students across Northern Ireland are putting their cyber skills to the test through programmes like CyberFirst with a visit to the Royal Belfast Academical Institute  – the NI winners of last year’s Cyber Explorers Cup competition.
 
The schedule then moved on to a roundtable with the NI Cyber Cluster to hear about the challenges and opportunities faced by the cyber sector in Northern Ireland, and a visit to the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen’s University Belfast, taking in a demonstration and presentation on the Cyber AI Hub  – a programme funded by the UK Government to boost the adoption of AI cyber security research and grow the market for AI-enabled cyber security.

9. New campaign promotes the Cyber Essentials scheme

DSIT and the National Cyber Security Centre are working together to promote the Cyber Essentials scheme to small businesses during March. The campaign highlights the cyber risks businesses are facing and promotes the benefits of Cyber Essentials. The campaign will be seen across search, social media (including on Facebook) and will be supported by a number of business influencers discussing the importance of cyber security and the effectiveness of the Cyber Essentials scheme.

For more information on Cyber Essentials, including a new range of infographics and two new videos explaining the scheme, please visit the Cyber Essentials website.

10. Register now for the Cyber Explorers Cup

There’s still time to join the Cyber Explorers Cup. The cup is a competition to engage students aged 11-14 across the UK in an educational and interactive cyber security contest. Top performing teams can win a tech voucher worth up to £2,000 for their school.
 
The cup is part of the wider Cyber Explorers programme, a free educational platform which teaches young people aged 11-14 cyber security skills, informs them about careers in cyber security and encourages them to consider further study in science and technology.
 
Schools, teachers, and parents can register students now to help them embark on this exciting journey. The competing school or home-school should have completed three or more of the content elements available to take part in the competition. Entry deadline for the competition is Friday 21 March 2025.

11. New survey details cyber security action by large organisations

The fourth wave of DSIT’s Cyber Security Longitudinal Survey (CSLS) has been published. The study tracks the cyber security of medium and large businesses, and high-income charities over time to understand how their cyber security experiences and behaviours change over time.

Key findings include:

• Cyber incidents & trends: 79% of organisations faced cyber security incidents in the past year. Impersonation scams and online bank hacking attempts have risen, but overall impact is declining.
• Supplier risks: While cloud-based solutions show progress, monitoring supplier cyber security remains a low priority. Formal supplier assessments have dropped from 28% to 23%.
• Budgets & board involvement: Cyber security budgets and board engagement are increasing. 44% of large businesses (vs. 34% of medium) have raised budgets. Board-level responsibility for cyber security rose to 61% of businesses and 51% of charities (from 55% and 45% since last year).

 
The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025 will be published later this year, providing representative statistics on cyber security approaches amongst UK businesses and charities of all sizes, and educational institutions.

12. CyberNorth funding to boost women in cyber security

CyberNorth have announced funding from Innovate UK to launch a first-of-its-kind project in the North-East to inform, equip and empower careers advisors and teachers to support young girls and women access a career in cyber security.
 
The transformative new project, Influencing the Influencer, will launch this month and includes the development of a portal with case studies, study route information and employer information. It also features a campaign to change perceptions of careers in cyber security for young girls and women in the region.
 
The project will also include a series of online and in person events throughout March to help give careers advisors and teachers a thorough understanding of the jobs available in cyber security.

13. New research details public attitudes to connected places

The government has published new research detailing public knowledge, attitudes and confidence levels to connected places (aka ‘smart city’) technologies. The research identifies key concerns among the public and explores how they could be addressed. The reports can be found on gov.uk including:

• A research report on public perceptions based on the findings of surveys and focus groups
• A communication and consultation guide aimed at local authorities, which details how councils can engage with the public at all stages of their connected places implementation
• An infographic explaining connected places. 

There is also a short video aimed at the general public to explain what connected places are, and what the government is doing to keep them secure.

Connected places public video

We encourage you to look at these products and, if you are a local authority - or other organisation which manages a connected place - consider using the consultation guide, infographic and video to support your engagement with the public.

14. New research on connected places in sport, transport & education

DSIT has also published research exploring connected places technology and cyber security in non-local authority organisations. The research was focused on three different sectors, each with a corresponding report:

• Transport – covering airports and the railway sector
• Sports and culture sector - including stadiums and museums
• Higher Education –  principally university campuses.

 
Visit gov.uk to view the full research collection and summary report. This research complements the government’s wider work on connected places, which has tended to focus on local authorities, including the Secure Connected Places Playbook and our work on understanding public attitudes.

15. Digital inclusion plan to increase digital skills and deliver opportunity for all

DSIT has published its Digital Inclusion Action Plan setting out five actions the government will take to ensure everyone can access the benefits of technology to improve their lives, their work and their access to public services. These include a pilot to donate used government laptops to those that need them; a new Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund to support and expand local community initiatives to get people online, and a call for evidence to gather views from those who are delivering vital services and working directly with digitally-excluded people.