Edinburgh Napier has further strengthened its cyber credentials with two victories at last night’s 2025 Scottish Cyber Awards. 

Professor Bill Buchanan from the School of Computing, Engineering & the Built Environment claimed the title of Evangelist of the Year, while TrueDeploy from the same School took home the Start Up of the Year award. 

This recognition for Bill Buchanan is the latest in a series of accolades he has been honoured with in recent years.

Last year he was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, while he claimed the Most Innovative Teacher of the Year title at the 2023 Times Higher Education (THE) Awards. 

Bill was made an OBE in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to cybersecurity, and he has also played an instrumental role in several successful ENU spin-out companies, such as Zonefox, Cyacomb, Symphonic and Memcrypt. 

Last night’s awards also saw recognition for ENU project TrueDeploy. Founded by Dr Pavlos Papadopoulos, Lecturer within ENU’s School of Computing, Engineering & the Built Environment, TrueDeploy offers secure software data automation with the use of patent-pending technology. Pavlos was joined by TrueDeploy Technical Lead Owen Lo to receive the award last night. 

The project been backed with funding from several influential programmes to support its forthcoming spin-out from the University. 

Professor Nick Antonopoulos, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Vice Principal of Research & Innovation at Edinburgh Napier University, said:

“I warmly congratulate Bill Buchanan and TrueDeploy on their victories and for the positive difference they are making in the world of cybersecurity.

“Edinburgh Napier University’s track record in the sector is a source of great pride, and we endeavour to support further innovation. 

“I hope this success inspires others to follow in their footsteps here.” 

The awards add to Edinburgh Napier’s strong track record in the cyber sector. 

The University is one of a select number of UK institutions to have received Gold Award accreditation as an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre – having completed a rigorous assessment process last year.  

In January it was confirmed that ENU will play host to the Scottish Centre of Excellence in Digital Trust and Distributed Ledger Technology, which will see academic experts collaborate with a range of industries. 

Edinburgh Napier can also be counted among the members of the Turing University Network, which was established by the Alan Turing Institute. 

Courses available to students looking to enter the world of cybersecurity include an undergraduate degree and Graduate Apprentice degree. ENU also has three certified Masters programmes based on its pioneering MSc Cyber Security course, which is marking its 15th anniversary.