The winners of the 2022 Scottish Cyber Awards have been announced, with Gareth Rae taking home the Champion of Champions Award on the night.

Hosted live at Sheraton Grand Hotel in Edinburgh, the awards brought together more than 250 people to recognise and celebrate exemplary individuals and organisations making a positive impact in Scotland’s cybersecurity sector.

Commenting on the awards, SBRC Chief Executive Jude McCorry said: “It was fantastic to see all the amazing work being done in Cyber in Scotland, and that we have the chance to celebrate this once a year.

“I loved seeing the internationalisation award included this year – we need to see more of this – lets shout about what is happening in Scotland around the world, as we are doing some amazing things!”

So, who were the winners on the night?

Scottish Cyber Awards: Meet the Winners

The Scottish Cyber Awards marked an eventful evening for Gareth Rae, who secured both the Champion of Champions Award and first prize in the Cyber Educator category.

Speaking to DIGIT, Gareth said: “I would just like to thank all the young folks at Girvan academy, and the computing science department who have supported me over all the years. We’ve also had big support from Ayrshire Council from day one. We’ve got a big investment in the cyber department at the academy, which is going to help a lot of kids get into computing science and cyber in the future.”

In the Best Cyber Start Up category, Abertay cyberQuarter won plaudits on the night. The organisation was praised for its tireless work in helping to further develop Scotland’s cybersecurity ecosystem.

Recognising outstanding leadership figures from Scotland’s cyber sector, the awards named Scott Hunter as the winner in the Leadership Award category, and acknowledged Sadiat Jimo as the 2022 Outstanding Woman in Cyber.

Elsewhere on the night, the Police Scotland Cybercrime Investigations unit won the Outstanding Cyber Team award.

Community Recognition

This year’s awards featured three new categories, including the Cyber Community Award, Outstanding Young Person in Cyber and an Internationalisation Contribution Award.

Donna Anderson secured first place in the Cyber Community Award category while Pavlos Papadopoulos was recognised as Scotland’s Outstanding Young Person in Cyber.

Meanwhile, Ian Stevenson, CEO at Cyacomb won the Internationalisation Contribution award.

Ian Stevenson said: “This is wonderful, it’s very much the product of a team effort at the company. A lot of people have put in the hard yards to win us the Internationalisation award. But it’s also a product of the community. We’re a spin-out from Napier University. It’s wonderful to be holding the award.”

Eamonn Keane was recognised for his tireless work championing the Scottish cyber community, securing the Lifetime Achievement Award on the night.

He said: “This feels wonderful. But it’s a recognition of the great collaborative community that we have in Scotland. And that’s unique.”

Eamonn hailed the collaborative nature of the Scottish cyber community in recent years, adding: “This is not an award for me, it’s an award for the community. It’s great to see so many young people coming through the industry. We’re a very diverse community, and I think a shining light in the UK with regard to how we deliver cyber resilience.

Here is the full winners list from the 2022 Scottish Cyber Awards:

• Best Cyber Start Up: Abertay cyberQuarter
• Best New Cyber Talent: Greg Jennings
• Diversity Champion: Empowering You
• Cyber Educator: Gareth Rae
• Leading Light Innovation: GLASS: Trusted, Resilience and Private Citizen Data Sharing
• Best Cyber Education Programme: SaluteMyJob
• Outstanding Cyber Team: Cybercrime Investigations, Police Scotland
• Outstanding Woman in Cyber: Sadiat Jimo
• Leadership Award: Scott Hunter
• Outstanding Young Person in Cyber: Pavlos Papadopoulos
• Cyber Community Award: Donna Anderson
• Internationalisation Contribution: Ian Stevenson
• Champion of Champions: Gareth Rae

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