From: Civil Service World
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Does the government’s National Cyber Security Programme have what it takes to face up to a threat that keeps on evolving? Tim Gibson examines this ambitious major project
The modern world has a tricky relationship with technology. On the one hand, the rise of the internet creates new opportunities to drive efficiency and improve communication for businesses, private individuals and the public sector alike. On the other hand, reliance on electronic channels of communication creates new weaknesses in a country’s infrastructure, leaving it vulnerable to the risk of cyber-attack – which is currently ranked up there with international terrorism or a major disaster on the UK’s register of national security risks.
To make sure the advantages of 21st-century communications are realised while the risks are mitigated, the UK government launched the five-year National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP) in 2011. And, while its brief may not be straightforward or easy to realise, an £860m budget means ministers will be keen to see this project bear fruit.
Given the complexity of the threat – Calum Jeffray of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) calls it the “most diverse and rapidly evolving risk to national security” – the NCSP’s objectives inevitably cover a lot of ground. They include tackling cyber crime, increasing the country’s resilience to attack, and helping to shape the web in favour of “open societies”. The programme also acknowledges that delivering all of this will require better “cyber skills, knowledge and capability” on the part of British firms and individuals.
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