The British government is investing almost £2 billion in cybersecurity to defeat ISIS in cyberspace. Chancellor George Osborne announced this week he is prioritizing security in his spending review next week.
He has committed to increasing spending on cyber security to £1.9 billion by 2020, enlisting 1,900 new staff across the three intelligence agencies and the establishing the country’s first National Cyber Center, which will be home to a new dedicated "cyber force."
The Chancellor said there is a growing threat from cyber attacks and that Britain must be prepared for "hybrid conflicts," played out in cyberspace as well as on the battlefield.
“We are facing painful choices, and the hardest of decisions,” Osborne said. “The Prime Minister, my colleagues at the top of government and I have decided that we have to make a top priority of cyber security, if Britain is to be able to defend itself, now and in the future.”
Osborne also pledged to make Britain one of the safest places to do business online.
“It will give our companies and our citizens’ confidence that their cyber safety is being properly protected. It will ensure that Britain remains at the cutting edge of the global cyber economy," he said.
Added to the spending on core cybersecurity capabilities, the government’s total cyber spending will be more than £3.2 billion.
The National Cyber Center will be based at GCHQ in Cheltenham and will house the country’s first dedicated cyber force to handle cyber incidents in Britain and ensure faster and more effective responses to major attacks. The center will draw on GCHQ’s expertise and work with international partners to help keep the UK protected against cyber attacks.
As well as a renewed crackdown on cyber criminals, the new cyber strategy will also explore whether Internet service providers can work together, with government help, to divert more malware attacksand block bad addresses used against British internet users.
Furthermore, a new facility, the Institute for Coding: Center for Digital Skills and Computer Science, will be established to enable training of the nation’s next generation of coders. The government will launch a competition to attract joint collaborations between universities and business for a capital prize of £20 million focused on digital skills and computer science.
An ambitious new cyber skills program is also on the agenda. This will include identifying young people with cyber talent and providing them with training, after-school expert mentoring sessions and paths into a variety of cyber careers.
A stronger regulatory framework will be put in place including increased regulation in sectors defined as critical national infrastructure.
Finally, the strategy includes the creation of a new Cyber Innovation Center — also in Cheltenham — to house cyber start-ups in their early months, giving them the best possible support and drawing on the cyber talent and resource in the South West of England.
The new National Cyber Security Strategy will be published in 2016.
