About CyBOK

An increasing political, societal and economic concern, cyber attacks cost an estimated $400 billion (according to Lloyds) to global economies. The scale of the issue was further highlighted recently when the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists factored cyber attacks into their decision to move the symbolic Doomsday Clock closer to midnight.

However, there is a long-recognised skills gap within the cyber security sector, an issue that experts agree is compounded by a fragmented and incoherent foundational knowledge for this relatively immature field.

Mature scientific disciplines, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology have long-established foundational knowledge and clear learning steps from pupils studying GCSEs at secondary school to undergraduate degrees at university, and beyond.

Aims of the CyBOK project

CyBOK is a guide to the body of knowledge – the knowledge that it codifies already exists in literature such as textbooks, academic research articles, technical reports, white papers and standards. The project’s focus is, therefore, on mapping established knowledge and not fully replicating everything that has ever been written on the subject.

The CyBOK project team undertook an extensive exercise involving a mapping and analysis of relevant texts as well as a range of community consultations both in the UK and internationally via workshops, an online survey, interviews and position papers. These activities provided an in-depth understanding of the community’s collective view of the 19 top-level Knowledge Areas (KAs) that should be in the scope of CyBOK, and CyBOK v1.0 was released in October 2019.

Following community feedback and direct input after this release, two new KAs (Applied Cryptography and Formal Methods for Security) were produced, and one KA (Network Security) underwent a major revision; in July 2021, CyBOK v1.1 was published, with 21 KAs spanning five categories.

The next phase of the project

The next phase of the project will focus on dissemination and promotion of CyBOK as well as liaison with the new UK Cyber Security Council and ongoing evolution and maintenance of the KAs. Our vision continues to be for CyBOK to become an established, internationally recognised resource for all the security community sectors (academia, industry and government).

The progress of Phase IV will be overseen by the CyBOK Executive Board which comprises the principal investigator and co-investigators. The project will be reviewed and advised by the CyBOK Steering Committee who will provide input to the overall progress and strategic development with regards to the cyber security profession.

Executive Board and Project Management

Awais Rashid

Head of Cyber Security Group

University of Bristol

Howard Chivers

Dr. & Senior Lecturer

University of York

Andrew Martin

Prof. of System Security

University of Oxford

Steve Schneider

Director of the Surrey Centre for Cyber Security

University of Surrey

Yulia Cherdantseva

Cyber Security Skills Lead at Cardiff Centre for Cyber Security Research

Cardiff University

Helen Jones

Project Manager

Steering Committee

The CyBOK Steering Committee comprises national and international experts from industry, academia and professional bodies and are responsible for overseeing the maintenance of CyBOK and ensuring its strong academic and internationally recognised quality. They will act to advise when new KAs should be included or revisions made to existing KAs as well as appraising work. The Executive Board are also included in the Steering Committee membership.

About CyBOK

Aims of the CyBOK project

The next phase of the project

Executive Board and Project Management

Awais Rashid

Howard Chivers

Andrew Martin

Steve Schneider

Yulia Cherdantseva

Helen Jones

Steering Committee

Sir Edmund Burton

Laurie Williams

Mira Mezini

Trent Jaeger

David King

Claire Vishik

Emil Lupu

Heather Goldstraw

Steve Furnell

TBC

Project Researchers

Rob Larson

Ben Shreeve

Makayla Lewis

Claudia Peersman

Lata Nautiyal

Joseph Hallett

Archived Members

Bart Preneel

L. Jean Camp

Jill Slay

Nick Coleman

Diana Burley

Bill Mitchell

Amanda Finch