UK ‘steps up’ to cyber threat

Homeland October 20, 2016

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has addressed the second International Cyber Symposium in London today.

Co-hosted by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and the Ministry of Defence, the symposium will see a wide range of interested personnel from the Cyber community, with multi-national panels, composed of senior military officers, representatives from industry and academia, plus officials from over 30 nations, to ensure a diverse and challenging audience.

Entitled, ‘Cyberspace and the Transformation of 21st Century Warfare’, the symposium will explore how the integration of cyberspace into current operational practices and broader national strategy is a challenge faced by all nations. The symposium will provide a platform to look at best practice and the development of norms for future action, as well as highlighting the RUSI Cyber Security Research themes for the coming year.

The Defence Secretary has talked of his ambition to continue with the momentum raised by last year’s symposium and keep pushing a cyber security agenda.

Speaking at the Symposium today, Michael Fallon said that the UK was ‘stepping up’ to the challenge of Cyber Security.

He said: “Cyber is a Tier One threat we’ve recognised since 2010, which is why we’ve announced £265m investment today. We’re launching national cyber strategy next month. We have to do this work, spend this money & recruit.”

Last year’s Symposium hosted by France at the École Militaire in Paris, looked at ‘Digital Combat at the Heart of Military Operations’.

Mr Fallon took the opportunity to announce some £265m of investment to boost the defence of military cyber systems. He said the investment, which supports the new Cyber Vulnerability Investigations (CVI) programme, will help the MOD better understand cyber risks, allowing detailed analysis across the full range of potential cyber-attacks, meaning it is dynamic and can be applied to all aspects of MOD digital systems.

The programme will complement the work of the Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC), the £40 million facility announced in April to use state-of-the-art cyber capabilities to protect the MOD’s cyberspace from malicious actors.

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Cyber cyber security cyber threat Michael Fallon MP RUSI