The UK government’s latest plan to spend £500m in building a cyber army has been met with welcoming praise from the IT community.
Ruby Khaira, regional manager for UK, Northern Europe and India at FireMon, said: "The new cyber defence force being announced by the MoD and Philip Hammond is an important step in protecting the UK’s computer networks from cyber-attacks.
Graeme Stuart, UK director of public sector strategy at McAfee, also told CBR: "This latest development shows that government is taking the necessary steps to protect the UK against a very real cyber treat that is now on par with physical threats."
It also shows that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has followed up on a report released last year by the House of Commons’ Joint Intelligence and Security, which recommended that the UK develop an offensive cyber capability.
"There are also significant opportunities for our intelligence and security agencies and military which should be exploited in the interests of national security," it stated at the time.
However, the government should take care not to waste money this time round, like in 2011 when it was forced to abandon the £11.4bn National Programme for IT.
The IT project, started by Labour and designed to introduce electronic records across the health service, was called, "one of the worst and most expensive contracting fiascos in the history of the public sector" at the time.
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Graeme Stuart said the government must ensure that the networks and devices securing infrastructure are totally secure, which requires a shift in the mindset of UK organisations.
"The top level attention to cyber security has to be adopted throughout organisations and individuals as a joint responsibility – government and citizens need to work together to move from a ‘digital-by-default’ to ‘security-by-default’, ensuring that the basic knowledge needed to protect against the ever growing threat is ingrained in our national consciousness," he explained.
The real issue, added Khaira, is whether or not the government can find enough computer experts to build an effective force.
"The MoD therefore will likely need to have a robust training plan in place to train those they hire for the cyber defence force, and will then need to offer a good enough package to keep those security professionals from moving to the private sector," he explained.
