Cyber Security 2025 | FutureScot

As the Head of Cyber for ScotlandIS, Bev’s role involves developing initiatives aimed at fostering growth and innovation, addressing challenges posed by the dynamic cyber threat landscape and cultivating the skills pipeline within Scotland’s cybersecurity industry, playing the role of facilitator between, industry, academia and public sector. 

Bev initially joined the ScotlandIS team to lead the IT Managed Service Provider Programme which aimed to create a network within this community that actively shares best practices and lessons learned. The culmination of this effort was the launch of the ScotlandIS ITMSP Best Practice Charter on September 28th, demonstrating a commitment to elevating standards and fortifying cyber resilience throughout the supply chain.  

Before her role at ScotlandIS, Bev served as a police officer for 28 years, in front line and community roles.  She contributed significantly to the role of the cybercrime harm prevention team and played a crucial part in implementing Police Scotland’s Cyber Strategy through the “Policing in a Digital World” programme. This transition underscores her adaptability and commitment to positioning Scotland at the forefront of global cybersecurity endeavours. 

I am passionate about keeping organizations secure in the face of ever-evolving cyber threats. With years of experience in the industry, I have developed a deep understanding of the complex nature of enterprise network and cyber security, and the importance of staying one step ahead of potential risks. As a leader, I believe in fostering a collaborative and supportive environment for my team, where open communication, creativity, and innovation are encouraged. I prioritize the ongoing professional development of my team members and empower them to take ownership of their work, while providing guidance and support as needed. In my role, I am committed to working closely with stakeholders across the organization to ensure that security policies and procedures are aligned with business goals and objectives. I understand the critical role that security plays in enabling business success, and I am dedicated to delivering solutions that meet both security and operational requirements.

Cyber Innovation & Skills Leadership: Educating, Empowering, and Strengthening Organisational Cyber Resilience 

Katie O’Neill has recently been appointed as Head of Skills Academy at the Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland as part of the organisation’s efforts to further develop on and offline resilience training for organisations of all sizes.  Katie has extensive experience in cybercrime training and educational strategy, having worked with Police Scotland for 17 years, delivering advanced training programmes to equip law enforcement personnel with the critical skills required to investigate cybercrime, analyse digital evidence, and address emerging cyber threats. The Cyber Skills Academy is a dedicated resource within The Cyber Fraud Centre Scotland, designed to strengthen cyber resilience across all levels of workforce. Offering a range of educational and skills-based sessions, the Academy provides practical and strategic insights into managing cyber threats and fraud. 

Justin joins Risk Ledger after a career supporting the US Government in cyber security. He worked as a technical director for cyber security operations at the US Department of Defense (DoD), which included a secondment to the UK National Cyber Security Centre. Most recently, he advised senior executives of top global corporations and investment firms on enhancing their management of cyber risk.

In order to continue the advancement towards digitization, Scotland perhaps needs to develop a roadmap for the integration of digital trust, identity and wallets, and in how data is shared across the public sector, especially in areas of health and social care. This, as much as possible, should be focused on the citizen, and aim to integrate with other evolving systems around the world, and respect privacy. Along with this, the evolution of new methods such as with homomorphic encryption could provide the public sector with the opportunity to better understand the demographics of the population, while supporting privacy-aware machine learning.

William (Bill) J Buchanan OBE FRSE  is a Professor of Applied Cryptography in the School of Computing, Edinburgh and the Built Environment at Edinburgh Napier University. He is a Fellow of the BCS and a Principal Fellow of the HEA. Bill was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to cybersecurity, and,  in 2024, he was appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE).  His social media tagline reflects his strong belief in changing the world for the better: “A Serial Innovator. An Old World Breaker. A New World Creator.” Bill also has a strong belief in the power of education and in supporting innovation from every angle and currently leads the Blockpass ID Lab and the Centre for Cybersecurity, IoT and Cyberphysical.   Bill works in the areas of cryptography, blockchain, trust and digital identity. He has one of the most extensive cryptography sites in the World (asecuritysite.com), and is involved in many areas of novel research and teaching.  He has published over 30 academic books and over 450 academic research papers. Along with this, Bill’s work has led to many areas of impact, including a number of highly successful spin-out companies (including Zonefox, Symphonic Software and Cyan Forensics), along with awards for excellence in knowledge transfer and for teaching. He recently received an ”Outstanding Contribution to Knowledge Exchange” award and was included in the FutureScot “50 Scottish Tech People Who Are Changing The World”, along with being a regular keynote speaker at a range of conferences. Bill’s true academic passion is building, analysing and breaking cryptographic methods. 

Mike Rogers retired from the U.S. Navy in 2018 after nearly 37 years of naval service rising to the rank of four-star admiral.   

He culminated his career with a four plus year tour as Commander, U.S. Cyber Command and Director, National Security Agency – creating the Department of Defense’s (DoD) then newest large war-fighting organization and leading the U.S. government’s largest intelligence organization.  In those roles, he worked with the leadership of the U.S. government, the DoD, and the U.S. Intelligence community, as well as their international counterparts in the conduct of cyber and intelligence activities across the globe with a particular emphasis on cyber security.  He also assisted in the development of national and international policy with respect to cyber security, intelligence, data, privacy and technology – including extensive work with corporate leadership in the Finance, IT, Telecommunications and Technology sectors.  

Admiral Rogers is currently supporting companies in the private sector, serving as a member of various Boards of Directors or Advisory Boards or acting as a Senior Advisor – primarily in the areas of cyber security, geopolitics, quantum technology, robotics, space, and advanced technologies.  He also speaks globally to various business and academic groups and is working internationally in the cyber security, technology and national security arenas.    

He is a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor with Northwestern University’s Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute and a member of the advisory boards of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue, Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security, and Sandia National Laboratory’s National Security Programs Division. He is also a member of the United States Naval Institute Board of Directors and works with the Joint Staff and National Defense University in the mentoring and professional development of DoD Flag and General officers. 

With over 10 years’ experience in IT, Jessica is responsible for all Operational Security Services at FTSE 100 member, The Weir Group. Having graduated Abertay University in 2020 with a first-class honours degree in Ethical Hacking Jessica has delivered security transformation in global organisations and has experience across both offensive and defensive cyber roles, all with an underlying focus on threat intelligence. 

Mike Rogers retired from the U.S. Navy in 2018 after nearly 37 years of naval service rising to the rank of four-star admiral.   

He culminated his career with a four plus year tour as Commander, U.S. Cyber Command and Director, National Security Agency – creating the Department of Defense’s (DoD) then newest large war-fighting organization and leading the U.S. government’s largest intelligence organization.  In those roles, he worked with the leadership of the U.S. government, the DoD, and the U.S. Intelligence community, as well as their international counterparts in the conduct of cyber and intelligence activities across the globe with a particular emphasis on cyber security.  He also assisted in the development of national and international policy with respect to cyber security, intelligence, data, privacy and technology – including extensive work with corporate leadership in the Finance, IT, Telecommunications and Technology sectors.  

Admiral Rogers is currently supporting companies in the private sector, serving as a member of various Boards of Directors or Advisory Boards or acting as a Senior Advisor – primarily in the areas of cyber security, geopolitics, quantum technology, robotics, space, and advanced technologies.  He also speaks globally to various business and academic groups and is working internationally in the cyber security, technology and national security arenas.    

He is a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor with Northwestern University’s Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute and a member of the advisory boards of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue, Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security, and Sandia National Laboratory’s National Security Programs Division. He is also a member of the United States Naval Institute Board of Directors and works with the Joint Staff and National Defense University in the mentoring and professional development of DoD Flag and General officers. 

With over 10 years’ experience in IT, Jessica is responsible for all Operational Security Services at FTSE 100 member, The Weir Group. Having graduated Abertay University in 2020 with a first-class honours degree in Ethical Hacking Jessica has delivered security transformation in global organisations and has experience across both offensive and defensive cyber roles, all with an underlying focus on threat intelligence. 

Alan Gray is the Head of National Cyber Security and Resilience for The Scottish Government. A Security leader with over 15 years of experience within government, professional and public sector organisations, Alan has managed a wide range of security activities from strategic capability development to operational response. Previously as Chief Information Security Officer for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with responsibility for the cyber security of all core technologies and services both at home and across posts and embassies worldwide, he was also a member of the Government Security Board as representative for the CISO community across government. Drawing on past experience in National Security, academia, central government and the private sector, Alan has joined the Scottish Government to drive the consolidation and expansion of Scotland’s cyber security and cyber resilience activities, and to lead the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre (SC3).