Staying ahead of cyber criminals will be the subject of a virtual event organised by the company supporting the growth of Cheltenham's cyber tech hub.

CyNam 20.3 takes place on October 22 with local cyber experts joined by experts from Cheltenham data company Ripjar, Microsoft and government.

Registration for the event, which will explore how the threat of cyber crime is being fought on technical and operational levels, opened today at cynam.org.

The previous event in June saw more than 1,400 online delegates when Cyber Central strategic advisor Nick Sturge compared Cheltenham to Silicon Valley.

He said: "If you reach about an hour and 20 minutes outside Cheltenham, we have 19 universities - that's on par with Silicon Valley.

"The connectivity, £450million and counting of funding and Cheltenham being ranked as one of the best places to live makes this location pretty much unbeatable."

And Mr Sturge, who founded the business hub and co-working space Engine Hub in Bristol, has high ambitions for the town's cyber project.

"We are building Utopia," he said. "We are going to create something really special.

"The whole development has garden community status, we have the responsibility to create something really special.

"Our aspiration is to deliver an ambitious, globally relevant community, a national centre of excellence.

"We will be open in 2023 - you heard it from me."