The UK’s government departments and public services hold the data of every citizen and run systems that millions of people depend on daily, from benefits and healthcare to the GOV.UK platform itself. The seven cybersecurity leaders below protect central government, the devolved administrations of Scotland and Wales, and local councils, and their routes into the role are remarkably varied. One served as a diplomat in Kabul before leading cyber operations for the NHS. Another founded his own network and security firm in 1996 and grew it through to acquisition. A third once repaired phone lines at the top of telegraph poles for BT Openreach, and a fourth led PwC’s response to some of the UK’s largest cyber incidents before joining government.
Mike Fell – CSO, Department for Work and Pensions
Mike Fell OBE served as second secretary for justice at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Kabul before managing HMRC’s preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Over nearly nine years at HMRC, he rose from security strategy manager to head of customer protection for cyber security, head of operational and cyber security, and deputy director of cyber security and deputy chief security officer. He then spent four years as executive director of national cyber operations at NHS Digital and NHS England. Fell became chief security officer of the Department for Work and Pensions in May 2026. He has spoken on the NHS Cyber Sessions podcast and will speak at the Parliament & Cyber Conference in Westminster in December 2026 on defending some of the UK’s largest public services and how AI is changing frontline security.
Mark Edwards – CISO, Digital Health and Care Wales
Mark Edwards founded network, cloud, and cyber security specialists Capital Network Solutions in 1996 and grew it from a one-person consultancy through to acquisition in 2021. Along the way he built its first professional cyber security team, making it one of the first and largest Cyber Essentials certification bodies, achieved CREST approval for penetration testing, and worked with IASME and the NCSC as the standards developed. Earlier in his career he ran global operations for ACNielsen’s application portal in Chicago and led a network refresh across 80 RWE npower sites and 14,000 users. After roles as CTO of Flow Group and enterprise network architect at Block Solutions, Edwards became CISO of Digital Health and Care Wales in April 2024, leading information security across NHS Wales. In 2025 his team became the first in NHS Wales to join the Chartered Institute of Information Security. He has held the Cisco CCIE for 24 years and the CISSP for more than 20.
Alan Gray – Head of National Cyber Security and Resilience, Scottish Government
Alan Gray began as a technology security lead in the UK Civil Service, then led information security at the University of the West of England and cyber security at ACCA in Glasgow. From 2020 to 2024 he served as CISO of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Gray became head of national cyber security and resilience at the Scottish Government in January 2024, also leading the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre. He brings more than 15 years of government and public sector security experience and speaks regularly at Holyrood events.
Jonathan Scott – Head of Cyber Security, Government Digital Service
Jonathan Scott spent nearly six years as information security manager at the National Nuclear Laboratory before managing cyber supply chain assurance at the Home Office. He joined the Government Digital Service in 2022 as principal cyber assurance specialist, embedded with the GOV.UK Pay team and owning its Level 1 PCI compliance, then led security strategy. Scott has led GDS’s cyber security team since November 2024, protecting digital services for the UK public such as GOV.UK. A CISSP-certified leader, he also founded the security consultancy Dreadnought Security and spoke at Fortress Manchester in September 2026.
Gabriel Currie – Deputy Government CISO for Operations, UK Civil Service
Gabriel Currie spent nearly seven years at PwC UK, rising to lead its cyber incident management team and coordinating the response to some of the UK’s largest cyber incidents. He joined the Cabinet Office in 2021 as cyber defence lead, protecting services including GOV.UK, Register to Vote, and GOV.UK One Login, and went on to serve as head of cyber security, deputy CISO, and interim CISO. In December 2024 he became head of the Government Cyber Coordination Centre, a joint unit with the NCSC that delivers centralised security operations across more than 600 government and public sector organisations. Currie has also served as Deputy Government CISO for Operations since June 2025, leading the operational response to the most serious threats and incidents affecting the public sector.
Alex Harris – CISO, Ministry of Justice
Alex Harris began as a document controller at Hoare Lea before moving into information security at the Government Legal Department and IT systems assurance at the Department for Education. At NHSX and the Department of Health and Social Care, he led cyber security policy and then cyber risk for the NHS and social care. After a period as a senior manager in PwC UK’s cyber security practice, he returned to government to lead the Government Cyber Unit’s target operating model at the Cabinet Office and then its implementation at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Harris became CISO of the Ministry of Justice in August 2026.
Adam Shakur – Head of Cyber Security, Brighton & Hove City Council
Adam Shakur began as an administrator and trainee manager at Whipps Cross University Hospital and spent several years in telecoms customer service and engineering at BT, Colt, Spitfire, and BT Openreach, where he installed and repaired lines from customer premises to telegraph poles. At cloud communications provider SIPCOM he moved from service governance to head of information security, achieving UKAS accreditation without a single non-conformity. After consulting at IT Governance and leading information security at Capita, he spent more than seven years as CISO of Randall & Quilter Insurance Holdings. Shakur led cyber security for Croydon Council before joining Brighton & Hove City Council as head of cyber security in August 2026. He has built and certified more than 30 organisations to ISO 27001.
Defending the Public Realm
These seven leaders show how many routes lead into government security. Fell, Currie, and Harris have built careers at the centre of government and the NHS, while Gray and Scott brought experience from education, nuclear, and digital services. Edwards and Shakur carried entrepreneurial and private sector experience into Welsh health and local government. Together they protect the public services that the UK relies on every day.
Discover more CISOs securing their organizations:
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- Keeping the Shelves Stocked: The UK’s Food and Beverage Cybersecurity Leaders to Watch
- Built on Trust: The UK’s Software CISOs to Watch
- Code You Can Trust: The EU’s Software CISOs to Watch
- Privilege and Protection: The UK’s Legal Sector Cybersecurity Leaders to Watch
- From Paddock to Pour: Australia and New Zealand’s Food and Beverage Cybersecurity Leaders to Watch
John Kevin Hao is a news and feature writer covering cybersecurity, technology, and business targeted for professional audiences.