Defence minister Nick Harvey to detail UK cyber battle plans

He is expected to provide more details around cyber initiatives mentioned in the National Security Strategy and the Strategic Defence and Security Review in a speech to international affairs think-tank Chatham House.

The strategy and review identified cyber attacks as a top threat to the UK, alongside terrorism, and followed revelations by GCHQ head Iain Lobban that 1000 malicious e-mails a month were being targeted at government computer networks.

Lobban said the UK's critical infrastructure, such as power grids and emergency services, faced a "real and credible" threat of cyber attack.

Harvey is expected to spell out the reality of the threat and call for collaboration between government, industry and academia to fight it.

But he is also expected to set out how the government plans to use cyberspace to help the military fight future wars by exploiting enemies' weaknesses, according to the BBC.

Harvey believes that in future the nation must win the battle in cyberspace as well as the battle on the ground, the BBC said.

However, he will tell Chatham House that the government is still excited about the way the internet enables people to expand their horizons, and that governments around the world will have to create laws governing cyberspace and how it is used.

This story was first published by Computer Weekly

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