Whole-of-Society Approach Underpinned by £2.6 Billion Budget

The British government has published a new National Cyber Strategy which “sets out how the UK will solidify its position as a global cyber power“.

The strategy follows publication of the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy in May, which allocated £2.6 billion (€3 billion) for investment in cyber. This previously-announced funding will support the plans set out in the Cyber Strategy.

Initiatives set out in the strategy include programmes to teach cyber skills to schoolchildren and to make cyber skills training accessible to a more diverse range of adults; a Cyber Runway scheme, which offers assistance to growing companies; increasing investment in the National Cyber Force, which provides active defence against cyber threats; the creation of an applied research hub for the National Cyber Security Centre in Manchester; and investment in public sector cyber security to help ensure continuity of service for public services.

Two new bodies are also being established as part of the strategy. The National Cyber Advisory Board will “invit[e] senior leaders from the private and third sectors to challenge, support and inform our approach,” the strategy says. A National Laboratory for Operational Technology Security will be a “centre of excellence for testing, exercising and training on critical industrial technologies to build capability […] in collaboration with industry, academia and international partners […] It will host world leading research programmes and provide government, military, industry and international partners with the facilities for exercising and testing these technologies here in the UK.”

“The National Cyber Strategy builds on the country’s strong foundations in cyber security that GCHQ’s work has been part of, particularly through the NCSC, but it goes beyond that,” said Sir Jeremy Fleming, Director of GCHQ. “It brings together the full range of cyber activities, from skills to communities, and to the use of offensive cyber capabilities through the newly established National Cyber Force. It shows how the UK can build capacity across the country to continue to prosper from the opportunities of cyberspace. And, as a leading responsible cyber power, can build alliances with democratic partners around the world to protect a free, open and peaceful cyberspace.”