'Everyone is a possible victim' - individuals and businesses warned to increase awareness of cyber crime

It’s Monday morning, you get into work, pour yourself a cup of coffee and open up your emails.

But instead of the usual build-up of work for the week ahead, you realise that your organisation has been hit by some form of cyber attack.

This is just one of the scenarios addressed in a lineup of over 50 events marking Cyber Scotland Week this Monday to Friday.

“Cyber Scotland Week is for everyone,” said Daniel Waddell of the Scottish Government Cyber Resilience Unit.

“A lot of people think attacks won’t happen to them, but we want to raise awareness that everyone is a possible victim.

“You wouldn’t have a building without fire extinguishers, so why would you have a system without firewalls?”

The three main focus points of the week are the importance of cyber resilience and strong passwords; innovation in Scotland’s cyber sector, and the cyber community in Scotland.

Events include ‘After the Attack’, a breakfast seminar on Tuesday 18 offering practical advice on what to do after a cyber attack or information security breach.

Speakers include David Goodbrand, Head of Privacy at law firm Burness Paull, Scott McLuskey of CCRS Broker, David McKenzie of Quorum Cyber and Declan Doyle, Senior Ethical Hacker at the Scottish Business Resilience Centre.

Other highlights include a Cyber Resilience Summit, ‘Illuminate’, to be held on Thursday afternoon at the Kimpton Charlotte Square.

The seminar will examine threats to small and medium businesses and advice on protection from cyber crime.

“Ransomware or business email compromise can be a game changer for a small business,” said Eamonn Keane of the Scottish Business and Resilience Centre.

“It’s like everything else in crime, you tend not to think about it until it affects you.”

In preparation for Cyber Scotland Week Alan Armstrong, strategic director of Education Scotland, paid a visit to Royal High School, one of just 16 schools in Scotland to achieve the Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety (CR-IS) badge.

The children discussed ways they use digital technology and showed some of their latest projects to Mr Armstrong.

Elsewhere in the Lothians Skills Development Scotland is working with pupils at James Young High School in Livingston as part of a trial partnering six secondary schools across Scotland with employers to help young people develop cyber skills.

Students at James Young will work with JP Morgan on March 11-18.

Claire Gillespie, Digital Technology sector manager for Skills Development Scotland said: “I’m really excited about this approach which will give learners hands-on experience with real security tools and techniques.

“But the really exciting part is having the industry experts involved.

“Sharing their skills, knowledge and real work experiences will be a real inspiration for the next generation of cyber security specialists.

“This is also a great way for cyber experts to benefit from classroom experiences, and who knows, maybe we will encourage some of them to re-train as teachers!”