Conservatives outline cyber security overhaul

Whitehall practices must be improved, say Conservatives

A Conservative government would overhaul the UK's cyber security strategy to ensure Britain is not seen as a "soft touch" on cybercrime, shadow minister for justice Eleanor Laing said this week.

The Conservatives have already published a green paper with a number of measures aimed at reducing online crime. But Laing said the Conservatives are so worried about the issue that they would take further measures should they gain power.

"[The government] has developed a shell of a cyber strategy but this is nowhere near sufficient," said Laing. "The structures are simply not complete whereby reporting, mitigation advice and enforcement are brought together."

Any incoming Conservative government would have a minister in each department responsible for operational data security and a senior civil servant at director general level with appropriate qualifications.

The Information Commissioner would be funded by Parliament rather than government so as not to be "held on a leash", and his powers of inspection increased.

And his office would be given the task of carrying out a consultation with the private sector on data security, including the viability of a voluntary industry-wide quality mark of best practice.

Furthermore, the security of state structures that hold the public's information would also be examined by the incoming administration.

ID cards and the children's database ContactPoint would be scrapped, and the number of people on the DNA register reduced. Council access to communications data would be restricted.

Laing also said a Conservative government would set up a National Security Council to deliver an overall cyber security strategy for the UK.

Neil Thompson, currently a senior civil servant, would be appointed head of cyber strategy and tasked with making the changes outlined in a co-ordinated fashion.

Laing gave no indication of how much such an overhaul of online security might cost or how it might be funded.