14 DAY TRIAL // Speaking at Infosecurity Europe 2013, the UK government’s Cyber Security Minister Chloe Smith made some interesting remarks about cyber threats and the impact of the information security industry on the country’s economy.
Smith has highlighted the fact that since the launch of the Cyber Strategy, the number of security firms operating in the UK has increased considerably.
“At the last count there are over 2,300 UK companies in the cyber security sector. In total, these companies support well over 26,000 jobs – that’s actually 16 percent of all the UK’s security employment,” Smith said, cited by V3.
“UK cyber security sales accounted for the £3.8bn with UK exports of over £800m. UK Cyber security global growth over the next four years is forecast to be over twice that […] so it’s clear this is a growth sector.”
While this is clearly a good thing for both the security solutions providers and the businesses they cater for, the threat should not be underestimated, especially since cybercriminals and state-sponsored actors constantly grow in sophistication.
“Governments are faced with these threats on a daily basis. On average over 33,000 malicious emails are blocked by the government’s gateway to the secure internet,” the minister noted.
“These often contain or link to sophisticated malware made by highly skilled cyber criminals or state groups. A far greater number of less sophisticated emails and spam are also blocked each month.”
Commenting on Smith’s talk, Christopher Boyd, senior threat researcher at ThreatTrack Security, has explained that the government's commitment to investing in cyber security research and skills in the UK is commendable.
“Organisations including central government, large and small businesses and academia can only benefit from better insight into cyber security challenges, and the same market intelligence will only help breed the next generation of security countermeasures,” Boyd told Softpedia.
“The innovation voucher scheme is a prime example of this, helping small businesses to engage with UK security solution providers to develop bespoke and innovative solutions to emerging security problems,” he added.
“Today's keynote also provided some important insight into the cyber security challenge posed to governments around the world.
“With the UK government receiving in excess of 33,000 pieces of malicious email a day, ranging from casual phishing to targeted espionage attacks, the need for robust, internationally accredited security standards and policies to help government security agencies collaborate and combat private and state-sponsored cyber terrorism, fraud and online disruption.”