UK Plans to Centralize Cyber Security

This was written by Brynn Koeppen on Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 15:49.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the UK announced the creation of a new national cyber security centre  by the end of this month. Cyber security currently falls under multiple agencies, including the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) and the Metropolitan Police e-crime unit.

The initiative is part of a ‘u-turn’ in the UK government’s national strategy and an attempt to centralize cybersecurity, as described by the guardian. 

The initiative is very similar to President Obama’s announcement of a new ‘cyber coordinator’ and is part of a revised UK national strategy to protect government and private business from rising incidents of online attacks.  

The announcement follows talks between Canada, the US, and Britain  in coordinating and preventing  state-sponsored cyber attacks and cyber terrorism. The UK announcement comes  in the wake of multiple state-sponsored cyber attacks allegedly from Russia, China, and North Korea. 

Details of the cyber initiative  and the UK’s new national strategy will be available by the end of this month.