Samantha Sanderson is Director of Lockcode Cyber Security, founders and sponsors of the South East Cyber Security Cluster

Last month, the Government’s Cyber Demonstration Centre and Cyber Growth Partnership (CGP) Exchange was formally launched with a ministerial event in London. Meanwhile, my colleagues and I from the South East Cyber Security Cluster (SECSC) gathered at the Sussex Innovation Centre to celebrate our part in the CGP story over the past year, and join the event via video link. We were delighted to receive congratulations on our one-year anniversary from Ed Vaizey MP, Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy, for our ongoing efforts to improve cyber security and keep the South East safe in cyber space.

Cyber security is high on the public agenda at the moment – it seems like every day brings news of yet another high-profile security breach, not just limited to high-profile data loss incidents such as the TalkTalk breach, but also in the ongoing fight against terrorism.

Based in Brighton, the SECSC was launched in November 2014. Originally called ‘Brighton Cyber Security Cluster’, it immediately expanded to ‘Sussex’, and as registrations for events started appearing from across the South East region, expansion to the ‘South East Cyber Security Cluster’ was a natural progression. SECSC is sponsored and managed by my company, Lockcode Cyber Security.

According to Tech City’s Tech Nation 2015 report, Brighton has “the highest concentration of digital companies in any of the UK regions”, providing scope to enhance the region’s cyber security capabilities whilst enabling businesses and citizens to be safe in cyber space.

It has been a busy first year. We have held a number of successful events, including our launch event, a session looking at Cybercrime and Digital Forensics, and ‘Is Anti-Virus Really Dead?’ We have also collaborated with the Surrey and Sussex Cyber Crime Unit, delivering an innovative cybercrime protection pilot, to equip public facing staff with the necessary skills to help businesses (and citizens) protect themselves from cyber attacks.

Having experienced considerable growth, we hope for and expect much more as we go into our second year, and are looking for more members, investors and mentors to support us with our three key events:

– London to Brighton Cyber Security Event
– Online Gaming Cyber Security Sub-Group (Online gaming, simulation and synthetic environments; Supporting Cyber Security Challenge Cyphinx play-on-demand platform and Cybercenturion competition; Wearable technologies)
– Internet of Things and System of Systems Security (Secure smart homes, buildings, cities and autonomous vehicles)

Later this week, on Friday 27th November at 5pm we are holding our 1st birthday event at the Grand Central Pub in Brighton and hope to see lots of new faces there; it’s free to attend and will be a great chance to meet some like-minded people, chat, network and access some free expert advice. Click here to book your space. We look forward to seeing you there!