The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is funding efforts, led by IT security certification body Crest, to help overseas cyber security companies develop and mature their product ranges and services.
The pilot version of Crest’s Cyber Accelerated Maturity Programme, known as Crest Camp, will run until March 2025, and was announced to concide with the UK government’s three-day cyber security event at Wilton Park, West Sussex.
The event is geared towards encouraging international collaboration and discussion on cyber security issues so that participants can work together on measures geared towards improving the cyber-readiness of their individual countries.
Crest Camp will feed into this by offering support to cyber security service providers from Armenia, Bahrain, Georgia, Ghana, Lithuania, Kenya, Thailand, Oman and the Philippines.
The reason these particular countries have been earmarked to benefit from the initiative is because, according to Crest, there is an “identified need” to improve the capability of their respective cyber security ecosystems.
“Crest Camp embodies Crest’s mission to actively support companies in their journey toward professionalisation by providing targeted mentoring, training and guidance through the stages of the Crest Accreditation Pathway towards full membership and accreditation,” said Crest, in a statement.
“Through strategic partnerships, Crest is setting new standards for growth and sustainability within the cyber security ecosystems of participating regions.”
Tackling the skills gap
The training element of the initiative comes at a time when there is a growing focus on what needs to be done, across the globe, to tackle the IT security skills gap to ensure organisations have the expertise needed to protect themselves from the risk posed by increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.
Recent research from industry body ISC2 suggests the global cyber security workforce needs to increase by 87% to fill the current shortfall of cyber talent.
The FCDO’s funding for the project has been released to Crest in the form of a grant, and – according to the government agency – is a show of its commitment to encouraging greater collaboration between overseas entities when fighting cyber crime.
According to Crest, the initiative’s focus on helping private sector cyber security organisations represents a significant departure, given the majority of funding and grants in this space have traditionally been awarded to government agencies and their staff.
“There is more we can do in the private sector, given its critical role in the broader security landscape,” said Crest, in its statement. “[And] Crest Camp addresses this gap by acknowledging … that governments increasingly rely on private sector expertise to address resource shortfalls, while the rest of society and the economy depend on high-quality private sector cyber security service providers to function securely.”
Crest CEO Nick Benson said the initiative is part of Crest’s growing role in offering support to companies around the world that want to improve their cyber security posture.
“Thank you to the FCDO for supporting Crest Camp, and recognising the importance of the private sector in developing a country’s cyber resilience and better securing Critical National Infrastructure,” he said.
“Crest member companies around the world, as mentors and examples of what good looks like, will play an important part in this crucial work. In today’s increasingly interconnected global market, we must look beyond our own national borders to do the hard work that makes us all safer from cyber threats.”