On the 23rd April 2024, at the Big SASIG Conference Dinner held in London, the cyber security community gathered for the presentation of the Cyber OSPAs. Among the attendees was Pervade Software CTO, Jonathan Davies, alongside Senior System Engineer, Jessica Gibbons, accompanied by Ian Hickling, the National Rollout Coordinator from the Police CyberAlarm scheme.

The Cyber OSPAs serve as a platform to acknowledge and showcase outstanding achievements within the global cybersecurity sector. Grounded in principles of ethics and integrity, these awards uphold values of credibility, respectability, and transparency. A notable aspect of the OSPAs is their unique judging process - judges are nominated by supporting associations and agree to evaluate nominees independently against predefined criteria, ensuring fairness and impartiality.

The highlight of the evening unfolded as Pervade Software and the NPCC were announced as the recipients of the Outstanding Cyber Security Partnership Award for their collaborative efforts on the Police CyberAlarm scheme. It was a testament to their hard-work and commitment to improving cyber security measures and knowledge throughout the supply chain, from the smallest businesses at the bottom of the chain, all the way up to corporate companies and fostering collaboration between public and private sectors. This victory follows a previous success in 2021 when the NPCC National Cybercrime Programme won a Cyber OSPA for Outstanding Police/Law Enforcement Initiative, further solidifying the impact and importance of the partnership’s work.

A mentionable winner of this year’s Cyber OSPAs was Pat Ryan of Cyber Girls First who was awarded a Lifetime Achievement award. Females make up 50% of the population and only about 12% of the IT and cyber workforce is comprised of women. Cyber Girls First is attempting to change this demystifying the idea that only boys can succeed in IT. They work with female students 11-14 years old to educate them on IT, coding and cyber security and organise talks from women who have attained high levels in management in these fields. They work specifically with this age group with the hope of encouraging young girls to take up these subjects when they choose their GCSE options. A huge congratulations to Pat Ryan as well as other award winners.