Security News > 2021 > March > The Roaring Twenties: Future foreign policy will rely on rejuvenated 'cyber' sector, UK government claims

In terms of "Things that will flow from this" the Integrated Review mentioned only the National Cyber Security Centre and the nascent National Cyber Force, both already in existence.

Under the heading "Responsible, democratic cyber power" the government promised to "Use cyber capabilities to influence events in the real world," including more use of "Offensive cyber" - and, eye-catchingly for the UK infosec sector, UK.gov plans to build "An advantage in critical cyber technologies."

Two years ago the then Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said in a major speech: "If cyber interference were to become commonplace, the danger is that authoritarian states would damage public confidence in the very fabric of democracy."

Britain's so-called "Whole of nation approach" to cyber policy and capabilities in the post-Brexit world will, so we're told, rest on UK.gov "Supporting a UK research base that can compete with allies and adversaries" and nurturing an industry capable of delivering "Innovative and effective cyber security products" - something that may warm even the hearts of the occasionally jaded infosec industry.

R&D. It's not only the infosec industry that's mentioned in the review; the government wants "To take the lead in the technologies vital to cyber power, such as microprocessors, secure systems design, quantum technologies and new forms of data transmission."

"Britain could use nuclear weapons against a state that threatens to inflict a devastating cyber or biological attack," reported The Times, along with several other national newspapers, following clandestine government briefings the night before the review was formally published.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/03/18/ukgov_integrated_review_cyber/