Today sees the UK take a step towards a world-beating cyber security profession with the announcement that the UK Cyber Security Council, the self-regulatory body for the cyber security education and skills sector, has successfully completed its Formation Project meaning that the Government-mandated body is now independent.

The goal of the Council is not only to champion the cyber security profession across the UK, by increasing awareness and promoting the highest of standards, but also aim to influence the government, industry, and academia to develop and promote the UK’s cyber security skills on a global stage. The plan moving forward is to lay the structural foundations of the profession through offering thought leadership, career tools, and education resources to the cyber security sector as well as being involved in developing, promoting, and stewarding nationally-recognised standards for cyber security qualifications thereby growing the UK’s cyber security skills base.

“The next few months will be especially busy,” says Dr. Claudia Natanson, chair of the Council’s Board of Trustees, “we are now able to hire and start work on gaining traction and momentum across and beyond the profession. We’ll also be engaging with Government to ensure the delivery of the standards and governance needed to ensure a strong cyber security profession now and in the future.”

The Formation Project took 20 months and scores of volunteers from the 16 members organisations who, as Dr. Natanson puts it, “devoted countless hours to getting the Council to this date”. Despite the pandemic and the challenges it raised, the project achieved its scheduled launch date.

Dr Bill Mitchell OBE, chair of the Cyber Security Alliance is in no doubt about the importance of the new Council. “Today marks a significant milestone for the many people who are today and will be in the future handed the enormously important task of protecting the United Kingdom and its economy from cyber threats that undermine the foundations of modern society,” he says. “The Alliance remains fully committed to supporting the new Council and ensuring it succeeds at the pace and with the reach the UK needs as we recover from the pandemic and find our place outside the EU.”

It won’t be long to wait to see the outlining of some initial plans, as the Council has been invited by the NCSC to participate at CYBERUK, the UK government’s flagship cyber security conference in May.

The full list of members of the Cyber Security Alliance is:

• (ISC)² 
• BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT 
• Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISEC) 
• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) 
• CompTIA 
• CREST 
• Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences (CSFS) 
• Engineering Council 
• Information Assurance Advisory Council (IAAC) 
• The Institution of Analysts and Programmers (IAP)
• The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) 
• Institute of Measurement and Control (InstMC)
• ISACA 
• Security Institute (SyI) 
• techUK 
• The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT)