CYBER RESILIENCE How to guard against the great security threat of the 21st century NATO WILL DEFEND ITSELF JENS STOLTENBERG THE AGE OF CYBER WARFARE ALEX DEAN SECURING BRITAIN’S NETWORKS NIGEL ADAMS THE FAKE NEWS THREAT KARIN VON HIPPEL AND JONATHAN EYAL OCTOBER 2019 | IN ASSOCIATION WITH Cyber Security.indd 1 23/08/2019 15:40 Cyber Security.indd 2 23/08/2019 15:41 OCTOBER 2019 | PROSPECT CYBER RESILIENCE 1 CONTENTS HOW TO STOP THE 2 SECURING BRITAIN’S NETWORKS HACKERS Give businesses the protection they need Criminals and aggressive foreign states are wreaking havoc NIGEL ADAMS online. Can the UK defend itself? 4 NATO WILL DEFEND ITSELF The alliance could invoke collective defence ritain is confronted with a new Omand, the former intelligence chief, is JENS STOLTENBERG threat. The rise of the internet among them. A category-one attack could has brought benefits but also do immense damage, as our interview on 6 INTERVIEW: EX-GCHQ CHIEF dangers. Cyberattacks now rank p6 makes clear. Critical infrastructure is vulnerable among the most pressing security There is certainly more work to do on Bthreats we face, with risks to personal data, the domestic front, with extra investment, DAVID OMAND SPEAKS TO ALEX DEAN critical infrastructure and even democratic effective collaboration between the 10 WHEN, NOT IF elections. The challenge—and focus of this government and business, even a A category-one attack is just a matter report—is how to secure the perimeter and dedicated cabinet minister responsible of time keep Britain safe. for cyber all advocated for in these pages. The government has begun to wake up Most important of all is acknowledging the MARGARET BECKETT to the danger. In 2016 it launched a new danger; hopefully the furore over technology 12 INTRODUCING CYBERNOMICS cybersecurity strategy, accompanied by giant Huawei has pulled the issue up the Proper defences pay for themselves a dedicated new cyber centre under the agenda in the UK (p13). umbrella of GCHQ. Its director of operations, But of course, the cyberthreat is cross PAUL WALLACE Paul Chichester, told Prospect the focus is border, meaning international collaboration 13 KEEP HUAWEI OUT on ensuring “the UK’s digital homeland is as will also be crucial. Jens Stoltenberg, The telecoms giant is not a secure as possible.” Nigel Adams, Minister Secretary General of Nato, explains how of State at the Department for Digital, the North Atlantic Alliance is preparing safe partner Culture, Media and Sport, puts forward the (p4). Alarmingly, he says Nato suffers ISABEL HILTON government’s plan himself on p2. cyberattacks “every day,” while warning that But will it be enough? Other contributors a serious breach could trigger the collective 14 THE AGE OF CYBER WARFARE to this report are not convinced. Margaret defence commitment, where an attack on A new kind of conflict Beckett, former foreign secretary and Chair one ally is treated as an attack on all. Such is ALEX DEAN of the Joint Committee on the National the scale of this new threat. Security Strategy, condemns what she Criminal activity has evolved. True, we 16 CYBERCRIME: THE NUMBERS views as worrying complacency from a have a strong intelligence apparatus on Businesses are exposed and government that’s still underprepared (p10). our side and are well placed to adapt if we criminals are profiting Others warn simply of the danger if move fast enough. But the years ahead will we don’t get our approach right—David be critical. 18 DONT FORGET DIVERSITY Provide cyber jobs for marginalised groups JO PLATT 20 WHEN MISINFORMATION REIGNS Fake news corrodes democracy KARIN VON HIPPEL & JONATHAN EYAL This report forms part of Prospect’s work on cybersecurity. For more information on this report and our wider programme of activity please email: [email protected] Follow Prospect twitter.com/prospect_uk www.facebook.com/Prospect.Mag © MEDIA DRUM WORLD/ ALAMY STOCKPHOTO Cyber Security.indd 1 23/08/2019 16:16 2 CYBER RESILIENCE PROSPECT | OCTOBER 2019 SECURING BRITAIN’S NETWORKS— THE GOVERNMENT’S PLAN Give UK businesses the protection they need NIGEL ADAMS MINISTER OF STATE, DEPARTMENT FOR DIGITAL, CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT early every day we see a new the basics of how to protect themselves their cybersecurity as a result—but we cyberattack or data breach online in just 30 minutes. need to go further than rules which just reported in the news. The But we know there’s still more to do, cover personal data. threat is on a global scale and because our “Cyber Health Check” of Improving cybersecurity and securing shows no sign of abating. leading fi rms shows progress has not been our digital networks also relies on having a NAs our tech sector goes from strength quick enough. skilled and diverse workforce. to strength and our economy depends Just this week we announced a third more and more on digital technology round of the Cyber Skills Immediate and connectivity, we are stepping up our “THE NATIONAL CYBER Impact Fund, which is increasing the approach to cybersecurity. SECURITY CENTRE HAS number and diversity of people entering We are investing £1.9bn to help DEALT WITH MORE this fi eld of work, and the Institute of millions of people and organisations Engineering and Technology has been become more secure. Our National THAN 1,500 ATTACKS” announced as the lead for the new UK Cyber Security Strategy was published Cyber Security Council, which will help to in 2016 and since then we have set up We need to make sure our digital make cybersecurity a well-structured and the world leading National Cyber Security environment is more diffi cult to attack easy to navigate profession. Centre (NCSC). This is the frontline of our and good cybersecurity is being delivered These measures will help to ensure defences and has dealt with more than by the market as a norm. We have we have skilled people from a range of 1,500 signifi cant cyberattacks in the UK, launched a comprehensive review of backgrounds represented, increasing our while helping to take down 140,000 the UK’s cybersecurity regulations. We resilience for the future. scam websites in the past year. want to understand the best way of Good cybersecurity is at the heart of the We continue to support industry encouraging organisations to improve their government’s digital strategy. It enables in other ways. Our new Board Toolkit cybersecurity, whether this is a mixture of businesses to seize the opportunities of a provides resources to help board members laws, rules or other incentives. connected world. We see future-proofi ng take responsibility for cybersecurity and For example, we know the new GDPR our digital economy as an absolute priority, manage the risk to their organisation. The and data protection rules brought in last to help us achieve our aim of making the NCSC recently launched a new free online year have had a positive impact, with UK the best place in the world to start and training resource, for employees to learn around a third of organisations improving grow a business. Cyber Security.indd 2 23/08/2019 15:42 ADVERTORIAL 3 PIONEERING NEW COLLABORATIONS FOR THE CYBER WORLD Working together across international borders is essential KEITH MAYES PROFESSOR OF INFORMATION SECURITY, ROYAL HOLLOWAY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON ioneers are individuals or organisations that have new ideas and the strength of belief to put them into practice. The roots of Royal Holloway, University of London can be traced back to pioneers of education and equality: Elizabeth Jesser Reid, who in 1849 founded Bedford College as the fi rst UK higher Peducation college for women, and Thomas Holloway, whose vision and philanthropy led to the opening of Royal Holloway College in 1886. Moving forward a century, we fi nd a Royal Holloway pioneer celebrated in today’s Cyber World. Professor Fred Piper had been researching information security during the early eighties, when PCs were rarities, phones were not mobile and the Internet as we know it was not yet a dream. He foresaw the importance of information/cyber security and the need for academia to support industry, and so in 1990 he created the Information Security Group (ISG). In 1992 the ISG launched the fi rst UK MSc in Information Security, and these pioneering efforts were recognised in 1998 with a Queen’s award, but it took much longer for the world to fully awake to the importance of information/ cyber security. © MHK PHOTOGRAPHY Information security is actually a topic that is thousands of years old and has always involved people, behaviours and processes, as well as Royal Holloway is a Founding Charter Member of the International Cyber available technology. When the term Cyber Security became in vogue, Security Centre of Excellence (INCS-CoE) new entrants to the subject focused on technology alone and now view the importance of human aspects as a revelation. Nevertheless, case, we should not limit our endeavours to a single region of the world, encouraging multi-disciplinary collaborative efforts is essential for the as there are technical, cultural and educational benefi ts from looking future, enabling academia to help solve real-world problems. further afi eld. It is vital that UK academia excels and collaborates in Information/ Pioneering academies have taken the initiative, with the creation of Cyber Security, because it is an important part of our expert capability to the International Cyber Security-Centre of Excellence (INCS-CoE). This safeguard our country and its critical infrastructure, and it directly impacts was originally an inspiration from Keio University in Japan; to assemble on parts of our society, from e-commerce and online banking to social the world’s elite cyber security institutions from trusted countries, to networking, used daily by billions of people.