UoG and British Computer Society symposium explores cybersecurity risks facing businesses

University of Gloucestershire collaborated with the British Computer Society to bring together students, academics and industry professionals to explore the cybersecurity risks facing businesses and the steps they can take to mitigate risk.

In a symposium at the University’s Park Campus, Vee Gough, Principal Cybersecurity Consultant and Technical Services Lead at North Tower Consulting, provided a comprehensive look at essential cybersecurity fundamentals and practical, real-world-incident response strategies in a session entitled The Perfect Storm.

Framing cybersecurity as a business risk, not only an IT concern, Vee Gough highlighted high-profile retail breaches affecting Marks & Spencer and Co-op, and examined how social engineering and third-party suppliers can bypass technical controls.

Vee Gough explained how cyber incidents directly impact revenue, operations and reputation. He highlighted that people remain the primary attack surface, and that resilience and rapid response are as critical as prevention. As such, effective cybersecurity requires alignment across people, process and technology, with structured career pathways emerging through frameworks developed by the UK Cyber Security Council to support this.

The symposium concluded with a lively Q&A session, reflecting strong audience engagement and interest in both cyber resilience and career development within the sector.

The session was jointly hosted by British Computer Society committee member, Nick Parker, and student Mo Seyda, Level 6 Computer Science Course representative, who supported the event delivery and audience engagement.

Dr Abu Alam, Academic Course Leader for the Cyber Security Technical Professional Apprenticeship and MSc Cyber Security, said: “We’d like to thank the British Computer Society, Vee Gough and the students, staff and professionals from industry in attendance who made this such a thought-provoking, informative and engaging event.

“This collaboration between academia and a professional body demonstrates the University’s continued commitment to industry engagement, student employability, and real-world learning opportunities in cybersecurity.”

Image: Visitors to the cybersecurity symposium at the University’s Park Campus