30.01.20
Report finds UK cyber security sector now worth £8.3bn
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport has announced today (Jan 30) that the UK’s cyber security industry is worth an estimated £8.3bn, an increase of 46% from £5.7bn in 2017.
Findings from a report published by the Department show that the sector has seen significant growth in annual revenue and employment, with the number of active cyber security firms in the UK reaching more than 1,200 at the end of 2009.
This is a 44% increase from 846 in 2017, outlining the significant growth in annual revenue. On average, revenue per employee reached £193,500, a 7% increase since 2017.
Approximately 43,000 people are currently employed full time in the cyber security sector, an increase of 37% in 2017.
Ahead of his speech at international cyber security conference SINET, Digital Minister Matt Warman said:
“It’s great to see our cyber security sector going from strength to strength. It plays a vital role in protecting the country’s thriving digital economy and keeping people safe online.
“We are committed to seeing it grow and are investing £1.9 billion over five years through our National Cyber Security Strategy to make sure we lead the way in cyber innovation, develop and attract the best talent.”
The UK’s world-leading technology sector has helped to drive this growth alongside GDPR industry adoption, innovative research and an environment that has enabled the industry to boom.
A number of support programmes from government have underpinned this success, including Cyber ASAP, supporting academics to commercialise their research, Tech Nation Cyber, a scale9up programme supporting companies’ growth in the UK and abroad and Cyber101, a bootcamp programme designed to develop essential business skills within SMEs.
The UK cyber sector is also seeing security sub-sectors emerge, such as the Internet of Things, centralised systems that control and monitor infrastructure of facility-based processes and post-quantum cryptography.