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Budget 2024: Jisc urges Government to further enhance cyber security across UK tertiary education and research sectors

A new proposal outlines the creation of two new Government funded security operation services designed to strengthen cyber resilience at UK tertiary education and research institutions.

The UK education and research sectors are an essential part of the national economy, providing skills, training and key research activities to support and underpin UK economic growth. As cyber threats become more sophisticated the need for robust security measures is increasingly critical.

Ahead of the first Budget for the new Labour government, Jisc, the UK’s vital sector partner for tertiary education and research, proposes a Government funded policy which facilitates the creation of two new security operation services. These services will deliver enhanced protection to UK further and higher education (FE and HE) institutions and the UK research base from cyber-attacks that could cause significant financial and intellectual property losses.

Creating a single point of contact for security operations across the sectors also provides a more cohesive experience for users and will generate long-term savings by housing industry leading technology, enhanced threat intelligence and the reassurance of a trusted sector partner all under one roof.

Jisc proposes:

  • The creation of a funded security operations centre (SOC) covering UK FE and HE institutions: funding from Government will provide a security operations centre that will act as a single central service across UK FE, HE and research. Identifying and preventing cyber security threats, providing early detection and intervention from cyber-attacks, securing institutions proactively.
  • The creation of a funded research security centre for the UK: Government funding will also enable the development of a UK research security centre. This service will promote and deepen research security, maintain the safety and security of research and innovation from emergent cyber-attack threat vectors, preserve its integrity, enhance the trust our communities place in UK research and the benefits they gain and contribute to economic growth.

The cost of providing the two security operation services (to protect the UK’s FE and HE institutions) over the next five years is c. £34m per annum.

This submission has been endorsed by the Association of Colleges (AoC) and Universities UK (UUK).

Heidi Fraser-Krauss, CEO of Jisc, said:

“The policy seeks to maintain the established reputation of the UK as a trusted global leader in education, research and innovation, creating long term savings through the strengthening of the sector’s cyber posture against sophisticated cyber-attacks and delivering reduced recovery costs.”

Further information

For more information contact the Jisc public affairs team: publicaffairs@jisc.ac.uk.