Britain has come forward to help certain countries in matters related to cyber-threat and security.
On Wednesday Britain said that it would invest 22 million GB pounds (US$31 million) to help vulnerable countries in Africa and the Indo-Pacific build up their cyber defences to prevent China, Russia and others from filling a cyberspace vacuum.
Dominic Raab, British foreign minister said that Britain and its partners needed to take action to ensure that there was a cyberspace that was free, open and peaceful in the face of hostile states seeking to undermine democratic elections and turn the internet into a lawless space.
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At an online security conference Raab said, “We have got to win the hearts and minds across the world in a much broader space for our positive vision of a cyberspace, there for the benefit of the whole world.”
On China and Russia, he added, “Frankly, we have also got to prevent China, Russia and others from filling the multilateral vacuum. That means doing a lot more to support the poorest and most vulnerable countries who are most at risk.”
Last month, Britain joined the United States in commenting over involvement of Russia in a hacking based cyberattack. It said that Russia’s foreign intelligence service, known as the SVR, was responsible for the SolarWinds hack which led to the compromise of nine federal agencies and hundreds of private sector companies.
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In April, Britain’s top cyber spy also warned that the West needed to act urgently to ensure that China does not dominate important emerging technologies and gain control of the “global operating system”.
Raab said that Britain’s investment would be used to support national cyber response teams, advise on mass online safety awareness campaigns and to collaborate with global police coordination agency Interpol to set up a new cyber operations hub in Africa.
The African hub, the British foreign office said, would operate across Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda to help fight cybercrime in the fast-growing economies.
The director of GCHQ (Government Communications HeadQuarters), Jeremy Fleming said during a keynote address at the CYBERUK 2021 online event, “We have reached “a moment of reckoning” in the cybersecurity and technology space, and urgent action is required to address the challenges being faced.”
Fleming initiated his talk by highlighting the greater role technology is playing in our lives as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. In context of the pandemic, he noted, “The result is that cybersecurity is even more relevant to our economy, society, and, increasingly, to our security.” Accelerated digitization has enabled society to continue functioning while maintaining social distancing restrictions. But, it has also provided more opportunities for malicious actors to launch cyber-attacks.
(with inputs from Reuters)
