Tag Archives: policy analysis

Cyberbiosecurity in the New Normal Reviewed: Governance First, Apocalypse Later

Fouad’s “Cyberbiosecurity in the New Normal” attempts to elevate the digitisation of biology into a matter of international security. She is right that biology is now deeply digital and that this creates new attack surfaces. Where the article overreaches is in treating these risks as exceptional, geopolitically novel, or strategically transformative in themselves. Most cyberbio risks today are not exotic or unprecedented; they are familiar engineering and governance failures appearing in a new domain. The danger is less hacked DNA than over-securitised data.

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Cyber, Growth, and Regional Futures: A Comparative Synthesis of Six 2025 Reports: From Fragmentation to Framework

2025 has been a year of noise, policy papers, strategies, and growth plans, each declaring the next leap for UK cyber and regional innovation. But noise isn’t movement. Across six flagship reports, DSIT’s Cyber Growth Action Plan, WMCA’s Futures and Growth Plans, the Tech Nation 2025 report, the Midlands Engine Cyber & Defence report, and DSIT’s Cyber Skills 2025, the pattern repeats: good intent, weak execution, no continuity. Together, they map £77 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA), 143,000 cyber professionals, and £17 billion in projected uplift, but no coherent operating model. This paper builds one: treating cyber as economic infrastructure and the West Midlands as the proof-of-concept for a practitioner-led, resilient growth framework.

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Cyber Security Skills in the UK Labour Market 2025: A Critical Analysis

This article critically examines the Cyber Security Skills in the UK Labour Market 2025 report, highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and regional implications. It synthesises the findings into a practitioner-academic analysis, with recommendations for aligning graduate supply, employer demand, and future skills in areas such as AI and cyber resilience.

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