Introduction
Salutations etc
I would like to thank Sir Nigel Essenhigh for his kind remarks and inviting me here today to open formally the UK Cyber Test Range.
This is a unique collaboration between government, business and academia - developed by Northrop Grumman – under direction of the UK Technology Strategy Board – in collaboration with BT and Warwick and Oxford Universities.
Through the work undertaken at this Range we hope better to understand the common cyber security challenges we face, and be well placed to protect our information systems against the diverse and growing cyber threats which target our citizens, our businesses and very importantly our country’s critical infrastructure.
The National Security Strategy, published this week, judges that cyber attack, including from other states, terrorists and organised crime, ranks among the top four highest priority risks the country faces over the next five years.
That is indeed why we are making £650m of new investment over the next four years in the new National Cyber Security Programme which I will come to later. This is very much one of the up-arrows that the Secretary of State indicated at the start of the SDSR process.
The Digital Society
I am particularly pleased to meet Jean Valentine today, who worked as a code-breaker during Bletchley Park during World War Two. We owe a lot to the committed, talented and disciplined operatives.
In a sense, by working to break the German enigma code, Jean can claim to be one of the first ‘hackers’ – albeit working for the national good.
As today we mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain was not won simply because we had the best pilots – but because we had the best planes (Spitfire) and Radar.
Trafalgar too it is worth recalling was not won simply by Admiral Nelson and superior naval tactics – but by superior ships which had copper bottoms enabling them to travel more swiftly through the water.
And it was technology that enabled us to break into German communications.
This Coalition Government, 70 years on, recognises the importance of investing in technology to meet modern threats.
But much has changed since Jean was at Bletchley, using the new computing technology.
Then it was the nation state that held the advantage in exploiting this kind of advance.
Now, although Government clearly has a role to play, most advanced R&D is now in the private sector.
So our approach must change too.
It is difficult to underplay how far, in a few short decades, our society has come to depend on the digital world for many of the things which allow normal life to function smoothly.
From the high street to the home, from the City to the small business, the efficiencies that digital technologies provide are becoming common-place – and often taken for granted.
Our dependency on digital technologies runs deeper than many of us appreciate.
Every aspect of our society now depends on computers - from our electricity grid, through our banking system, to the computers which control our buildings and transport systems.
The Armed Forces too rely on digital networks, not just on operations, but in all the business which is done over commercial networks and the internet.
The Risks in Cyberspace
With all the positive things the digital age has brought – accessibility, efficiency, networking, information at the fingertips – twitter, facebook, google; it is equally exploitable by those who mean to do wrong.
Though impossible to put a precise figure on the direct and indirect financial losses caused by cyber criminals, we do know that the problem is growing progressively worse.
For example, we know that:
- Nearly 3 million new items of malicious software were identified in 2009.
- Over 600 million card payments were made on-line in 2009 in the UK – a total spend of over £47 Billion – a lucrative target for e-crime.
- Credit card details can be bought on-line for a few pounds on clandestine websites – almost 2 million people have their identities stolen each year in the UK.
- Provision of welfare payments and HMRC tax regimes are subject to persistent and increasingly substantial targeted attacks.
So, it is not a matter of if or when our country faces cyber attack, it is happening now.
As the GCHQ director, Iain Lobben, has said “cyber space is contested every day, every hour, every minute, every second.”
The threat is complex - from low level, disorganised hacking; through serious organised crime defrauding people and businesses, stealing information and identities; to state-sponsored espionage.
And of course from terrorists who conduct their activities in cyberspace.
It is worth noting that cyber technology is a particularly powerful weapon in the hands of non-state actors, as we face increasing threat of asymmetric warfare.
In places like Afghanistan, where infrastructure remains weak, organisations like the Taliban or Al-Qaeda have leapfrogged a technological generation and make good use of modern wireless communications.
So with the digital highway rapidly becoming the backbone of our society and central to our military operations - to ensure good health we need to develop a strong ‘nervous system’ to warn us of dangers and ‘active anti-bodies’ to ward off attacks.
Cyber Security Partnership
We need a flexible cyber security response - led by government, yes – but shared by all who have a reliance on digital technologies, in business and in their personal lives too.
As Sir Nigel emphasised in his slides, we must draw more effectively on the knowledge, experiences and resources of the private sector – recognising that the private sector owns and operates large parts of the critical networks that deliver our essential services.
We have strong capabilities on which we must build.
You would not expect me to go into precise detail on our capabilities and research nor on our intimate plans for the future.
But I can say that our National Cyber Security Programme will mean government working together with the private sector and academia to create policies and plans to protect our country.
A major part of the programme will focus on the UK’s ability to detect and defend itself against cyber attack, as well as ensuring we overhaul our approach to tackling cyber crime and ensure our critical networks are secure from electronic attack.
At home we believe in partnership between government, industry and academia as the way forward.
But we cannot do this in the UK in isolation.
Our partnerships also need to be international, because geography is no barrier in cyberspace.
The strong alliances we have forged over the years, particularly with the US and other NATO partners, will help us to address the common threats we face.
That is why I am particularly pleased that Northrop Grumman has given practical effect to this partnership by drawing on its US experience to help build this range here in Fareham.
Conclusion
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to open this cyber range today.
This represents just the kind of partnership we require to make a real contribution to our future cyber security.
To coin a phrase – “we are all in this together.”