UK to become safest place for business

The Government is aiming to make the UK the safest place in the world to do business by spending an additional £1.9 billion to help prevent cyber security threats.

Chancellor Philip Hammond outlined the new strategy, which will see the Government working with companies and investing in experts over the next five years to help tackle and prevent cyber-attacks.

Strategy

The strategy will cover three main areas: defence, deterrence and development.

For defence, the Government will work with companies such as SME Netcraft, using automated defence techniques to tackle cyber-attacks from hackers and prevent spam emails and viruses.

For deterrence, the Government will be strengthening law enforcement capabilities to make “clear that the UK will defend itself in cyberspace and strike back.”

Under the development area, the Government will be increasing its investment in students and experts in order to help them develop skills to tackle cyber threats.

The strategy will also include the creation of the UK’s first cyber security innovation centre in Cheltenham, with a Cyber Innovation Fund being launched next year to help develop and fund cyber security start-ups.

Leader

Commenting on the strategy, Hammond said: “Britain is already an acknowledged global leader in cyber security thanks to our investment of over £860m in the last Parliament, but we must now keep up with the scale and pace of the threats we face. Our new strategy, underpinned by £1.9bn of support over five years and excellent partnerships with industry and academia, will allow us to take even greater steps to defend ourselves in cyberspace and to strike back when we are attacked.”