Xentra has been working in partnership with TransforMATive over the past two years to explore and understand the evolving cyber security landscape within the UK education sector. Together, we’ve hosted a series of insight-led roundtables with senior IT leaders from across the sector to surface shared challenges, identify priority actions, and spotlight areas of innovation and maturity.
This report compares the key findings from two recent roundtables. One held in London (January 2025) and one in Birmingham (June 2025). While both events confirm that cyber security remains a strategic priority for the sector, they also reveal meaningful shifts in how institutions are framing risk, building capability, and embedding resilience.
Notably, these discussions reflect a sector that is moving from reactive postures to more proactive, integrated strategies; elevating cyber security from just a ‘technical concern’ to business priority.
Comparative insights
| Theme | London roundtable – January 2025 | Birmingham roundtable – June 2025 |
| Strategic framing | Emphasis on embedding cyber security into institutional risk management frameworks, aligning cyber concerns with broader operational risks such as safeguarding, continuity, and compliance. | Stronger pivot to cyber security as a board-level concern. Institutions are starting to appoint executive sponsors for digital risk, often within the CFO or COO remit, to drive accountability and funding. |
| Cultural attitudes | Recognition that fear of reputational damage continues to inhibit openness. Emphasis on fostering psychological safety around disclosure of breaches and incidents. | Growing appetite to move beyond symbolic “badge compliance” (e.g., Cyber Essentials) toward meaningful cultural transformation where cyber resilience is owned at every level of the organisation. |
| Capability development | Many institutions reported chronic under-resourcing and reliance on external expertise including managed service providers (MSPs) and security operations centres (SOCs) to plug skill gaps. | A shift toward more sustainable internal development: calls for structured capability-building pathways, apprenticeships, and collaborativetraining networks to compliment external support. |
| Simulations and planning | Institutions increasingly recognise the value of disaster recovery (DR) drills and penetration testing. However, exercises are often infrequent or limited in scope. | Maturing approach to resilience: regular phishing simulations, breach response table-top exercises, and business continuity rehearsals are becomingstandard, often linked to leadership training. |
| AI and emerging tech | Exploratory use of AI and machine learning for anomaly detection, behavioural analytics, and automated alerts. Still largely at proof-of-concept stage. | Greater awareness of AI’s dual role: both as a defence mechanism and as a potential threat vector. Institutions are beginning to draft AI usage policies, especially for tools deployed in classrooms or admin systems. |
Cyber insurance | Viewed as a necessary hedge due to rising threat levels, particularly ransomware. Requirements like MFA and endpoint monitoring seen as prerequisites for coverage. | Mentioned far less prominently; reflects a strategic pivot from insurance-based recovery toward active prevention and investment in pre-incident capability. |
| Supply chains | External vendors, especially in edtech and cloud platforms, identified as high-risk. Participants called for standardised security certification (e.g., kite-marking) for third-party tools. | While still acknowledged, the focus here shifted toward operational pragmatism; calls to validate MSP credentials and build internal review mechanisms. |
Cross-cutting priorities: What’s remained consistent
Across both roundtables, several themes emerged as consistent strategic imperatives:
- Cyber security as a strategic priority: Cyber risk is no longer siloed within IT departments. It is seen as a direct threat to educational continuity, data integrity, and institutional reputation.
- Cultural change over compliance: The sector recognises that lasting change requires cultural transformation, moving beyond compliance frameworks to foster everyday cyber vigilance.
- External expertise remains vital: Given ongoing resource constraints, MSPs, SOCs, and independent audits remain essential for visibility, coverage, and assurance; especially for smaller institutions.
- Real-world simulations are critical: Breach rehearsal, phishing simulation, and DR exercises are widely acknowledged as essential to operational readiness and staff confidence.
- Long-term focus areas emerging: Continued calls for maturity frameworks, cyber literacy integration into curricula, real-time governance reporting, and investment in affordable, scalable security tools.
Recommendations for IT leaders in education
To respond effectively to both current and emerging challenges, we recommend that education sector leaders focus on the following actions in 2025:
- Establish strategic ownership: Elevate cyber security to a board-level concern. Appoint a digital risk sponsor within the executive team and ensure cyber risks are integrated into governance and institutional strategy.
- Advance cultural maturity: Create an environment of transparency around cyber incidents. Train staff continuously, from frontline educators to administrators, with tailored content that builds cyber literacy.
- Shift from compliance to capability: Use Cyber Essentials and other standards as baselines, not an end point. Invest in secure-by-design approaches, risk-based scenario planning, and layered defence strategies.
- Embed simulations into operations: Normalise cyber resilience practices by making phishing simulations, tabletop exercises, and full DR testing part of the institutional calendar and leadership performance metrics.
- Diversify and validate capacity: Align objectives and audit MSP performance. Build resilient internal teams through shared services, training partnerships, and succession planning.
- Integrate AI thoughtfully: Harness AI for monitoring and incident detection, but accompany it with clear usage policies, ethical safeguards, and staff training to avoid new forms of digital risk.
- Secure your supply chain: Develop procurement policies that require vendors to meet minimum security standards. Perform regular audits of third-party access and data handling.
In summary
As digital transformation accelerates across the education sector, so too does the threat of cyber attack. The shift we’re witnessing—from reactive mitigation to proactive, organisation-wide resilience—marks a critical point.
To survive in this environment, institutions must go beyond technical controls and embed cyber security as a strategic pillar. This includes leadership ownership, a resilient culture, robust capabilities, and forward-thinking governance.
Cyber resilience is no longer an optional defence. It’s a foundation for trust, operational stability, and the uninterrupted delivery of education in a digitally connected world.
If you’d like further information regarding this report, or would like to discuss your cyber security priorities and challenges, please do not hesitate to get in tounch.
