Government outlines £650m cyber strategy details

The government has published details of its previously announced UK Cyber Security Strategy containing the way it wants to spend no less than £650m to bolster national defences against online crime.

The wide-ranging programme will see money spent on research into cyber crime and the recruitment and training of more cyber crime experts. There will also be a drive to make the public more aware of the risks of crime conducted over the Internet.

The Coalition also plans to introduce a Bill on tightening the law in this area.

Existing agencies, such as the GCHQ and Ministry of Defence, will receive additional funds in a bid to combat crime that may cost the UK as much as £27bn per year, according to the strategy document.

"One of our key aims is to make the UK one of the most secure places in the world to do business," said Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude.

"Currently, around 6% of the UK's GDP is enabled by the Internet and this is set to grow. But with this opportunity comes greater threats. Online crime including intellectual property theft costs the UK economy billions each year."

The government says cyber crime capability is a key part of the new National Crime Agency by 2013 and ensure that cyber awareness, capacity and capabilities are part of mainstream police activities.

More resources have been pledged for working with the private sector and international partners, while the Cabinet Office's strategy document promises a single reporting system for citizens and small businesses to report cyber crime, by the end of this year.

Lack of cyber crime fighting skills will be tackled by establishing a scheme for certifying the competence of information assurance and cyber security professionals by March 2012, and a scheme for certifying specialist training in 2012.

There will also be a review of policy and regulation of the UK communication sector, with a view to publishing a Green Paper early in 2012 followed by a White Paper and a draft Bill by 2013.  

UK ICT industry trade body Intellect welcomed the news. Gordon Morrison, director of defence and security, said: "This strategy is a major step forward in helping businesses, the public sector and individuals understand the growing scale of the cyber threat and what actions they need to take to improve their security. We are pleased to see that several of the key actions which the government is adopting are ones which Intellect recommended to government including enhanced information sharing mechanisms, development of a kite mark and promotion of industry led standards and skills.

"The strategy places importance on encouraging more cyber aware behaviour by SMEs and Intellect has today announced it will develop a series of good practice guides for SMEs.

"Many of our members are in the frontline of the battle against the cyber threat and they are committed to working in this new partnership with government to build a safe digital environment."

"The government understand the economic benefits and also the growing threat, so as an overall analysis it's great," added Raj Samani, chief technology officer at security software firm McAfee. "I was a little nervous that it might get bumped.

"One of the key things is the reaffirmation that Get Safe Online [the Internet safety advice site] is going to be the tool of choice to raise awareness about cyber crime."