Government vows to 'strike back' at cyber-attackers
Chancellor Philip Hammond to announce five-year strategy to tackle top-level threat
A new national online security strategy launched today will see the government "relentlessly pursue" cyber-attackers.
The five-year initiative, to be announced by Chancellor Philip Hammond, will be backed by a £1.9bn investment made in last year's Defence and Security Review.
It will see the government bolster automatic defences to prevent hackers hijacking websites or spoofing official domains, as well as creating defences to intercept booby-trapped emails and stop fraudsters impersonating bank websites, reports Sky News.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The move comes after the government's National Security Strategy identified cyber security as a "tier 1" risk - the same level of threat as terrorism and global instability.
Hammond will pledge that the UK will defend itself in cyberspace and "strike back" against those who try to harm the country.
Britain "must now keep up with the scale and pace of the threats we face", he is to say, adding that the new strategy "will allow us to take even greater steps to defend ourselves in cyberspace and to strike back when we are attacked".
Ben Gummer, the paymaster general, said cyber attacks were "no longer the stuff of spy thrillers and action movies" but "a reality". He identified Britain's adversaries as "organised criminal groups, 'hacktivists', untrained teenagers and foreign states".
But Professor Alan Woodward, a computer security expert from the University of Surrey, told the BBC the authorities must take the issue even more seriously. "The government talk about 50 recruits here and 50 there," he said. "I'm afraid we need many more."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'The House under GOP rule has become a hostile workplace'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal is about more than bad bets
In The Spotlight The firestorm surrounding one of baseball's biggest stars threatens to upend a generational legacy and professional sports at large
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Feds raid Diddy homes in alleged sex trafficking case
Speed Read Homeland Security raided the properties of hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Is Henry Kissinger right about Ukraine?
Speed Read The US statesman made a controversial speech at a virtual Davos appearance last week
By The Week Staff Published
-
How the Taliban is rolling back the freedoms of the past 20 years
Speed Read Supreme leader has now announced that all women must cover their faces in public
By The Week Staff Published
-
Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused evacuation as Russian hitmen ‘parachuted’ into Kyiv
Speed Read Ukrainian president turned down opportunity to leave capital despite threat to life, adviser claims
By The Week Staff Published
-
Russia can still ‘win’ Ukraine war, Western officials warn
Speed Read Vladimir Putin adjusts tactics after ‘humiliation’ for second phase of invasion
By The Week Staff Published
-
Ukraine war: the atrocities unfolding out of sight
Speed Read Vladimir Putin’s strategy of ‘Russification’ is straight from Stalin’s playbook
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Can Vladimir Putin be toppled?
Speed Read Russia has become what political scientists call ‘a personalist dictatorship’
By The Week Staff Published
-
The meaning behind the Z Russian military symbol
Speed Read Taken from the Latin alphabet, it has become a sign of support for Putin’s war
By The Week Staff Published
-
Houthi rebel attacks: a new development in Yemen’s ‘festering’ war
Speed Read The conflict escalated in January when a Houthi drone attack hit oil facilities in the UAE
By The Week Staff Published