Ciaran Martin

Ciaran Martin, the founding chief executive of the world-leading UK National Cyber Security Centre, is now a Professor of Public Management at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School, specialising in cyber security as well as the relationship between technology and public policy.

When Ciaran was appointed to GCHQ’s board in 2013, the UK was ranked joint eighth in the world for cyber security by the International Telecommunications Union. When he stepped down in mid-2020, the country was ranked first. Opened in 2016 and launched officially by Her Majesty The Queen, the UK NCSC has attracted worldwide acclaim as the leading authority in cyber security across the globe. In 2020 alone, the UK’s NCSC launched the first national suspicious email reporting system for citizens, released technical details of attempts by hostile states to access vaccine research, and outlined plans for comprehensive reforms of telecommunications and commodity Internet security. 

Ciaran spent nearly a quarter of a century in the UK Government including 15 years in senior leadership roles covering national security, intelligence, constitutional and economic positions.