Reinforcing national cybersecurity is one of government’s main targets, and will see £40 million spend in state-of-art defensive cybersecurity capabilities to protect cyberspace from attackers.
Following George Osborne’s strategic Spending Review plan for strengthening cybersecurity last autumn, the Ministry of Defence in Corsham is about to host the new Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC).
As the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) in November outlined, the government will invest £1.9 billion over the next five years in protecting the UK from cyber attacks and developing our sovereign capabilities in cyber space.
The UK government’s cybersecurity plan
The new centre will cost £40 million and will be constructed in order to prevent cyber attacks by “individual hackers, criminal gangs, terrorist groups and hostile powers” as Osborne stated during his speech held on 17th of November 2015 at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
Additionally, on the occasion of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, Osborne also spoke about the cybersecurity plan’s five major steps that the new centre will have to tackle to secure the right cyber defence. Firstly, it will reinforce the capabilities of the National Cyber Crime Unit, which is working to, in partnership with their counterparts abroad, secure government systems so robustly that the popular myth that cyber criminals can never be caught will change.
Secondly, the MP added that “a single National Cyber Centre” will centralise all British agencies “involved in protecting Britain in cyberspace.” It also will have “a public face and work hand in hand with industry, academia and international partners to keep the UK protected against cyber attacks.”
Shortage of cybersecurity workforce
The Global Information Security Workforce Study 2015 highlights another crucial security issue, which is the shortage of cybersecurity workforce. The solution will be a new Institute of Coding designed for training the next generations to gain high level of digital and computer science skills. Further, as Osborne declared, the goal is “to create a commercial ecosystem in which cyber start-ups proliferate, get the investment and support they need, and are helped to win business around the world.”
Consequently, the fourth step is to support the best cyber start-ups with provisional programmes. In order to achieve this, the government will create “a £165 million Defence and Cyber Innovation Fund, to support innovative procurement across both defence and cyber security.”
The final step is to become able to defend Britain against cyber attacks and “to hit back.”
Written by Barbara Nicotra
