Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre: SC3 strategic plan 2024 to 2027

3. Operating model

SC3 sits within the wider ‘cyber landscape’ in Scotland alongside the Scottish Government’s Cyber Resilience Unit (CRU), in support of The Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland. To contribute to this and to effectively serve the wider public sector, the structure and operating model of the SC3 has been developed as shown in the diagram below. The core functions will provide prioritised and targeted services to public sector organisations, and these core services will be developed and driven by robust data and evidence of need and criticality.

The operating model places the Scottish public sector at the top, as the priority driver and consumers of services but also as contributors of insights and feedback. The Standards and Insights function sits at the heart of the model: collating and analysing data to inform priorities as well as tailoring standards and governance support as appropriate.

To best support customer organisations, SC3 must provide both proactive (Protective Measures – indicated by the ‘right’ arrow icon) and reactive (active support – indicated by the ‘left’ arrow icon) functions to balance defence and response maturity improvements. The operating model is further structured with regards to a cyber incident itself – with the blue functions on the left representing pre-incident and breach activities, and the green functions on the right focusing on post-breach scenarios.

Additionally, SC3 relies on its Core Partners (The Scottish Government Cyber Security and Cyber Resilience Units, Police Scotland, NHS NSS, HEFESTIS, Local Government Digital Office and NCSC) to provide input, advice, and challenge. SC3 Core Partners have a responsibility to actively contribute to the development of the centre and support service offering, and the list of Core Partners is subject to change and expansion as SC3 evolves.