A Digital Minister has announced £500k funding to boost cyber security
The Cyber Skills Immediate Impact Fund (CSIIF) is to receive an additional £500,000 in funding across four new projects, aimed at encouraging more women, neurodiverse and black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) individuals into a career in the UK’s booming cyber security sector.
The funding, announced on Monday by Digital Minister Margot James, will help four English organisations develop and sustain projects that identify, train and place untapped talent from a broad range of backgrounds into cyber security roles quickly.
Announcing the initiative, Margot James said: “Our cyber security industry is thriving but to support this growing success we need a skilled and diverse workforce to match. These latest projects show that whatever your background, ethnicity or sex, there are opportunities to join the cyber security profession. We want to demonstrate that you can have a dynamic and exciting career in a sector that sits at the heart of our economy, and is a key part of our modern Industrial Strategy.”
The organisations to benefit from the funding include Crucial Academy: Diversity in Cyber Security, a Brighton-based initiative that seeks to retrain ex-military cyber security experts, with a particular focus on women and neurodiverse & BAME individuals, and QA: Cyber Software Academy for Women, a project running in London, Bristol and Manchester and also in Birmingham as part of the West Midlands Combined Authority Skills Deal.
Neil Williams, CEO of Crucial Group, said: “We at Crucial Academy are incredibly grateful for the support that the CSIIF provides. As veterans ourselves, we understand how programmes like this are invaluable in aiding the transition into civilian life. This support will help facilitate our continued commitment to veterans, women, neurodiverse and the BAME communities.”
Lisa Harrington, Managing Director at QA Learning, said: “We are extremely excited to be awarded this crucial funding for our collaborative initiative with Women’s Tech Jobs, the QA Cyber Academy for Women. It will have an immediate impact on beginning to address the diversity issues within the cyber security sector, and be an inspirational beacon to inspire the next generation of female cyberists.”
The other organisations to receive funding will be Plymouth-based Blue Screen IT, and online portal Hacker House Ltd.
28th January 2019.
Sources:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-funding-will-help-drive-diversity-in-cyber-security
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cyber-security-skills-immediate-impact-fund
