Cyber sector welcomes PM’s defence review

PA Consulting’s cyber and defence expert, Cate Pye, comments on the UK Government’s publication of the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy.

The article reports that cyber security experts have given the thumbs-up to newly announced plans to strengthen both the UK’s cyber sector and its offensive and defensive capabilities.

In the review – which covers a diverse range of areas besides cyber, including military and nuclear weapons strategy, the UK’s response to the climate emergency, and resilience for future pandemic events – the government set out a plan to enable a “whole-of-nation” or “full-spectrum” approach to cyber security.

This approach will follow a number of strands, to be detailed in greater depth in a new national cyber strategy later in 2021.

Cate described the review as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the government to set out a vision for an integrated and resilient approach to the UK’s global role, particularly given the dual impact of an extreme Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic.

She said: “The government’s response needs to reflect the shifting pattern away from conventional risks towards the continuum of threats posed by the adverse use of technology and cyber. This shift impacts all key stakeholders, the government, our defence forces, business and citizens.

“With greater integration between government, business and industry, we have an opportunity to be the ingenious digital ‘crown jewel’ of the world and to pave a new path of global influence.”

Read the full article in Computer Weekly