New plans to protect public sector from cyber attacks

These include active threat intelligence sharing, clear cyber incident response protocols and appropriate independent assurance that critical protection against the most common forms of attack is in place. Deputy first minister John Swinney said: “I want Scotland to be a world-leading nation in cyber resilience by 2020.

“The Scottish Government recently committed to developing a range of action plans to help meet this ambition, including in the key areas of learning and skills, economic opportunity, and public, private and third sector cyber resilience.

“Today marks the first of those plans being published. Our public sector action plan will encourage all public bodies, large or small, to achieve common standards of cyber resilience.

“I want our public sector to lead by example on strengthening cyber security, to help ensure Scotland is ready to deal with all emerging threats.”

Joint chair of the NCRLB public sector steering group Dr Keith Nicholson added: “One of the strengths of the Scottish Public Sector is the willingness to work together and share good practice. The Public Sector Action Plan on Cyber Resilience is the embodiment of that spirit.

“All public bodies can follow the Action Plan to achieve a common base level of cyber security resilience ensuring that Scotland’s public sector will be better protected against cyber-attacks to the benefit of both the organisation and the citizens of Scotland.”