British businesses are on the front lines of the country’s cyber defences, and must help fend off groups bent on sabotaging critical infrastructure, a minister will issue a warning on Wednesday.
Newest cyber security threat from hacker Link to Russia According to Oliver Dowden, it can be compared to Wagnerian paramilitary groups.
The groups are “ideologically motivated, not economically motivated” and have begun targeting the UK this year, the Duchy of Lancaster’s minister will say at the CyberUK conference in Belfast.
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He will add that their main purpose is to “disrupt or disrupt” and they are unlikely to show the same level of restraint as state actors – making the situation “particularly worrisome”.
In a sign of the growing danger, the National Cyber Security Center is issuing official threat notifications to operators to help protect the nation.
Mr Dowden, who is also secretary of state for national investment security, will say at the conference that he called on “companies responsible for keeping our country afloat or keeping the lights on … our shared prosperity depends critically on their own security”.
“Brick-and-mortar businesses cannot survive if their back doors are open to criminals every night. Also in today’s world, businesses cannot afford to … allow cyber crooks and hackers to open their digital back doors.”
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Mr Dowden will announce measures to encourage certain businesses “on the front lines of cyber defense” to strengthen security and boost economic development.
The plan will also include proposals to strengthen the government’s ability to hold critical infrastructure operators accountable.
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These will include setting “specific and ambitious cyber resilience targets” for all critical national infrastructure sectors, to be met by 2025.
Ministers will also work to bring all private sector businesses working in critical national infrastructure within the scope of cyber resilience regulations.