Safety Detectives: Please share your company background, how you got started, and your mission.
CAPSLOCK: CAPSLOCK was founded by Dr. Andrea Cullen, Jonathan Slater, and Lorna Armitage. The company was created to tackle the urgent cyber security skills gap whilst giving adults from all backgrounds the opportunity to re-skill and land high-paying jobs. After raising investment, we enrolled 86 learners onto our pilot cohorts in February 2021.
SD: What is the main service your company offers?
CAPSLOCK: Voted as the UK’s most innovative cyber security start-up in 2021, CAPSLOCK re-skill adults into cybersecurity professionals at no up-front costs.
Our 4-month intensive online program costs £0 until a learner lands a job paying over £27k. Then, they pay CAPSLOCK 15% of their income for 3 years, capped at £18k.
SD: What is something unique that helps you stay ahead of your competition?
CAPSLOCK: Launching in February 2021, CAPSLOCK is on track to re-skill 160+ in their first year, that’s more than any UK university. We’re the UK’s largest provider of income share agreements, where we remove as many barriers to career-changing education as possible. Our affordability and accessibility allow us to provide world-class education at scale, plugging the cyber skills gap and increasing sector diversity.
SD: What do you think are the worst cyberthreats today?
People and insider threat. Developing a security-aware culture within a large organization, especially those who hold deeply engrained legacy processes and policy, is exceptionally difficult.