Britain Building Cyber Forces to Attack ISIS

British spies are building elite cyber offensive forces to strike at Islamic State fighters, hackers and hostile powers, Chancellor George Osborne said recently after warning militants wanted to launch deadly digital attacks.

Islamic State was trying to develop the capability to attack British infrastructure such as hospitals, power networks and air traffic control systems with potentially lethal consequences, Osborne said.

In response, Britain will bolster spending on cyber defences, simplify its state cyber structures and build its own offensive cyber capability to attack adversaries.

"We will defend ourselves. But we will also take the fight to you," Osborne, Britain's second most powerful politician after Prime Minister David Cameron, said in a speech at Britain's GCHQ eavesdropping agency.
"We are building our own offensive cyber capability – a dedicated ability to counter-attack in cyberspace. When we talk about tackling (Islamic State), that means tackling their cyber threat as well as their guns, bombs and knives."

Britain's new cyber attack forces will be run jointly between GCHQ and the Defence Ministry and will target individual hackers, criminal gangs, militant groups and hostile powers, using a "full spectrum" of actions, Osborne said.

GCHQ traces its history back to World War One signals intelligence with Winston Churchill as its founder and once reported to the MI6 foreign intelligence service but has since gained significant influence as one of the world's pre-eminent eavesdropping agencies.

One of the most secret spy agencies in the world, its existence was only officially recognised legally by Britain in the 1990s.

After the Paris attacks, which killed at least 129 people and were claimed by Islamic State, Britain said it would boost staff at its domestic MI5 security service, MI6 and GCHQ by about 15 percent.

Osborne said public spending on cyber security would be almost doubled to a total of 1.9 billion pounds ($2.9 billion) over the period to 2020, saying the decision to ramp up cyber defence funding had been taken before Friday's bloodshed in Paris.

Islamic State was already using the Internet for propaganda, to radicalise people and for planning purposes, he added, "They have not been able to use it to kill people yet by attacking our infrastructure through cyber attack," he said. "But we know they want it and are doing their best to build it.

GCHQ was currently monitoring cyber threats against 450 companies in aerospace, finance defence, energy and telecoms sectors, while the number of cyber national security incidents had doubled to 200 a month since last year, he said.

A new national cyber security plan drawn up by the government would feature a dedicated force to ensure faster and more effective responses to major online attacks. The force would be based at GCHQ in Cheltenham, southwest England.

Other elements of the plan included possible cooperation between internet service providers, with help from the government, to fend off malware attacks and block bad addresses used against British internet users, as well as a new institute to train coders, Osborne said.

British broadband provider TalkTalk suffered a cyber attack in October, which affected 157,000 customers. In November, Britain and US authorities carried out a drill with leading banks to test their response to a cyber incident in the financial sector.

"The experience in the last month of TalkTalk shows how cyber attack can suddenly go from a theoretical risk to a massive business cost," Osborne said.

Reuters:

 

« Anonymous Acts on Cyber War Threat
Restricting Encryption Wouldn’t Stop Paris-Style Attacks »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

NordLayer

NordLayer

NordLayer is an adaptive network access security solution for modern businesses — from the world’s most trusted cybersecurity brand, Nord Security. 

XYPRO Technology

XYPRO Technology

XYPRO is the market leader in HPE Non-Stop Security, Risk Management and Compliance.

The PC Support Group

The PC Support Group

A partnership with The PC Support Group delivers improved productivity, reduced costs and protects your business through exceptional IT, telecoms and cybersecurity services.

Resecurity, Inc.

Resecurity, Inc.

Resecurity is a cybersecurity company that delivers a unified platform for endpoint protection, risk management, and cyber threat intelligence.

ZenGRC

ZenGRC

ZenGRC - the first, easy-to-use, enterprise-grade information security solution for compliance and risk management - offers businesses efficient control tracking, testing, and enforcement.

aizoOn Technology Consulting

aizoOn Technology Consulting

aizoOn is a technology consulting company offering a range of services including IoT & embedded security, mobile security, cybersecurity assessments, risk & compliance, network monitoring and more.

ISACA

ISACA

ISACA is a global professional association and learning organization for members who work in information security, governance, assurance, rissk and privacy.

National Response Centre for Cyber Crime (NR3C)

National Response Centre for Cyber Crime (NR3C)

National Response Centre for Cyber Crime (NR3C) is a law enforcement agency in Pakistan dedicated to fighting cyber crime.

UZCERT

UZCERT

UZCERT is the national Computer Emergency Response Team for Uzbekistan.

Digital Hands

Digital Hands

Digital Hands is an award-winning managed security services provider.

Riscure

Riscure

Riscure is a global test lab and tools leader for device security. Core expertise in side channel analysis, fault injection and embedded device software.

Micro Strategies Inc.

Micro Strategies Inc.

Micro Strategies provides IT solutions that help businesses tackle digital transformation in style.

S2S Group

S2S Group

S2S Group specialise in the destruction and management of IT assets at the end of the lifecycle.

DDOS-Guard

DDOS-Guard

DDoS-GUARD is one of the leading service providers on the global DDoS protection and content delivery markets.

CyberWhite

CyberWhite

CyberWhite is a disruptive provider of cyber security and risk mitigation solutions.

Snowflake

Snowflake

Empower your cybersecurity and compliance teams with Snowflake. Gain full visibility into security logs, at massive scale, while reducing costs of Security Information and Event Management systems.

Udacity

Udacity

Udacity's mission is to train the world’s workforce in the careers of the future. Our programs range from beginner to expert levels and deliver the hands-on skills for real-world expertise.

SpiderOak

SpiderOak

SpiderOak's portfolio of Secure Communication & Collaboration products ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your most sensitive data in any environment.

Association of Azerbaijani Cyber Security Organizations (AKTA)

Association of Azerbaijani Cyber Security Organizations (AKTA)

The Association of Azerbaijani Cyber Security Organizations (AKTA) is a non-commercial organization aimed at strengthening the country's cybersecurity system.

TetherView

TetherView

TetherView provides leading virtual desktop and email security technology to help businesses stand up and manage digital workspaces.

Fraud.net

Fraud.net

Fraud.net operates the first end-to-end fraud management and revenue enhancement ecosystem specifically built for digital enterprises and fintechs globally.