Expert says UK government is too preoccupied with launching cyber attacks

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2105591/expert-uk-cyber-spooks-preoccupied-launching-attacks

By Stuart Sumner
Computing.co.uk
01 Sep 2011

A security expert has claimed that the UK is devoting most of its cyber 
crime fighting efforts to cyber attack, leaving limited resources for 
defence.

Speaking exclusively to Computing, Ross Anderson, professor of security 
engineering at the Cambridge University computer laboratory, stated that 
90 per cent of the government's recent funding injection into cyber 
security was going to the UK's offensive capability.

"The spooks - GCHQ [Government Communications Headquarters, pictured] - 
are getting 90 per cent of this new £650m for cyber security [they are 
responsible for cyber attacks]. The rest, about £65m, is going to the 
police."

Anderson blamed the imbalance on the fact that the UK's cyber defence 
capabilities are organisationally placed within GCHQ, the body 
responsible for electronic espionage, or cyber attack.

[...]

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