The Prime Minister has pledged to spend £650 million, over the next four years, on managing the risks associated with cyberspace.
In his speech to the Commons earlier this week, David Cameron said the government is developing a National Cyber Security Programme aimed at overhauling the UK’s approach to cybercrime.
Under the cyber security initiative an agency, or a single point of contact, will be created where the public and businesses can report cyber crime.
In addition, a major training programme will be set up to ensure that those tasked with tackling cybercrime have the necessary skills and knowledge to identify, understand and tackle it successfully.
The government also plans to ‘introduce a new programme of cyber security education and skills in order to foster a more preventative approach to cyber security throughout the UK’.
This will involve carrying out awareness-raising activities among the general public to help encourage safe and secure online behaviour.
Writing in the foreward of the ‘Securing Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: the Strategic Defence and Security Review’ report, published this week, David Cameron and Nick Clegg said: ‘Over the last decade the threat to national security and prosperity from cyber attacks has increased exponentially.
‘Over the decades ahead this trend is likely to continue to increase in scale and sophistication, with enormous implications for the nature of modern conflict. We need to be prepared as a country to meet this growing challenge, building on the advanced capabilities we already have.’