In a speech to the attendees of the Information Assurance (IA12) conference in London, Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office, spoke to how the Internet has revolutionized the way people do business and its ongoing potential to “drive growth.” However, he noted that the Internet “has also transformed the risks we face.” He went on to say that “cyber attacks are one of the top four threats to UK national security and cyber crime is costing the UK economy billions of pounds per year. And as businesses and government move more of their operations online, the scope of potential targets will continue to grow.”

Minister Maude presented a number of telling statistics on cyber attacks. “One recent survey found that 93% of large corporations and 76% of small business had a cyber security breach in the last year,” he told the conference. He went on, “During the Olympics, the London 2012 Games systems recorded millions of cyber-related events, ranging from harmless glitches to deliberate attempts to disrupt Games-related digital infrastructure.”

Noting that the government views cyber attacks as a tier one threat and has committed 650 million pounds to the transformative National Cyber Security Programme, Minister Maude also talked to the future steps that the government plans to implement. A new UK Cyber Information Sharing Partnership, due to launch in January 2013, is designed to “provide a confidential environment for firms to share cyber threat information,” and as a platform “to develop the capability to share information on cyber crime threats in real time.”

Minister Maude stressed the need for the United Kingdom to continue to improve cyber skills to maximize business opportunities, but also to stimulate skills in cyber security. Future steps include building cyber security into engineering degrees led by the Institution of Engineering and Technology and providing over 80 PhD student sponsorship awards as the result of funding from the Government Communications Headquarters and other governments departments. Steps also include recruiting “cyber reservists” to the Ministry of Defence and providing more interactive learning materials on cyber security to high school students taking advanced level courses.