The UK is to create a central Office of
Cyber Security (OCS) to deal with the rising level of online attacks.
The new office will run within the Cabinet
Office, and will liaise with industry as well as providing strategic oversight. The new strategy will also see a separate office,
the UK Cyber Security Operations Centre, established in an offensive as well as
defensive role.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said:
"Just as in the 19th century we had to secure the seas for our national
safety and prosperity, and the 20th century we had to secure the air, in the
21st century we also have to secure our position in cyber space in order to
give people and businesses the confidence they need to operate safely
there."
The government endorsed a series of key priorities
as part of the new strategy, including recruiting to ‘plug skills gaps', establishing
opportunities for high tech businesses in the UK, and providing education to businesses
and consumers alike.
Shlomo Kramer, CEO, Imperva welcomed the move: “The OCS is a welcome step towards making cyber security
a top priority. For too long action has been reactive, papering over the
cracks of data breaches and attacks, rather than proactively seeking to put in
place a structure to mitigate against it. The biggest challenge the new
OCS faces is to propagate the DNA of security across the government.”