Scotland’s only cybersecurity social enterprise reinvests £3m to combat threats in first year

The Cyber and Fraud Centre Scotland has invested over £3m in the last year to support charities, community groups and small businesses impacted by cyber threats.

The organisation, which become a social enterprise last year, has reinvested its profits made through its cyber security services into initiatives to improve Scotland’s cyber resilience.

Such programmes include vulnerability testing, ‘cyber MOTs’ and executive education programmes.

Chief executive Jude McCorry said: “With organisations under increasing pressure to demonstrate strong cyber security standards to unlock business opportunities, cyber resilience is now an economic imperative as much as it is a security one.

“We are incredibly proud of the impact achieved in our first year as a social enterprise and grateful to everyone who has contributed. As the Centre continues to grow, so too does our ability to give back. 

“Over the coming year, we’ll continue expanding our programmes, with a particular focus on evolving our Incident Response Helpline to provide ongoing – rather than just incident-specific – advice.”

Recipients of the support have included over 500 charities and social housing organisations, and over 200 SMEs.

The investment comes as organisations across the public, private and third sectors face growing pressure to demonstrate robust cyber security standards as part of procurement, partnerships and supply chain assurance, while cyber threats continue to escalate in scale and sophistication. 

Street Soccer is one of the Centre’s charitable partners and has received support to increase its cyber resilience.

Chief executive Gerry Britton said: “As a charitable organisation, we needed a partner that understood both our resource constraints and the importance of protecting sensitive data… Their proactive, tailored advice has helped us strengthen our cyber resilience step by step, and the depth of their testing and ongoing support has been a gamechanger.”

The Centre has also offered six paid placements for ethical hacking students at Abertay University.

Natalie Coull, head of division of cybersecurity at the university, said: “Abertay University’s long-standing relationship with the Cyber and Fraud Centre Scotland has significantly enhanced student employability, while strengthening our reputation across the UK cybersecurity ecosystem. 

“The collaboration gives students a unique and invaluable opportunity to apply their technical skillset in real-world settings and make a genuine difference to SMEs’ cyber resilience.”