Pierluigi Paganini March 18, 2021

Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared that Britain needs to boost its cyber capability to conduct cyber attacks on foreign hostile actors.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that his government needs to boost its capability to conduct cyber attacks on foreign threat actors.

“Cyber power is revolutionising the way we live our lives and fight our wars, just as air power did 100 years ago,” Johnson said in a statement released by his office and reported by the Reuters agency.

The announcement comes ahead of the presentation of a long-term review of national security strategy to parliament on Tuesday which could lead to a reduction in armed forces personnel.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson recognizes the importance of protecting his country from attacks originating in cyberspace, a new domain of warfare.

“The review will set out the importance of cyber technology to our way of life – whether it’s defeating our enemies on the battlefield, making the internet a safer place or developing cutting-edge tech to improve people’s lives,” continues Johnson’s statement.

In 2019, the UK government spent 2.1% of national income, roughly $59 billion, on defence, more than any other European country.

Johnson has yet to confirm the cuts in the defence personnel, it only confirmed that the National Cyber Force would have a permanent base in northern England as the government tries to boost regional development outside London.

The National Cyber Force (NCF) NCF plays a crucial role in enhancing its offensive cyber capabilities.

Last year, the UK government announced a new defence spending of £16.5 billion ($22bn), part of which has been assigned to the creation of the National Cyber Force. The British government also reserved part of the spending for the creation of a Space Command and agency dedicated to AI. The NCF is composed of personnel from intelligence, cyber and security agency GCHQ, the MoD, the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).

The National Cyber Force will be involved in of cyber operations like:

• Interfering with a mobile phone to prevent a terrorist from being able to communicate with their contacts;
• Helping to prevent the internet from being used as a global platform for serious crimes, including sexual abuse of children and fraud; and
• Keeping UK military aircraft safe from targeting by hostile weapons systems.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Boris Johnson)

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