Foreign Secretary calls for international collaboration on cyber defence

Foreign Secretary William Hague has called for greater international collaboration to protect nations from malicious cyber attack from criminal groups and foreign states.

He made the call during his opening speech at the London Conference on Cyberspace today.

"The truth is that in cyberspace, no one country can go it alone," he said.

Referring to last year's pledge of a further £650m towards cyber defence, Hague said: "In Britain we are significantly increasing our national cyber defences and have created a new four-year programme with significant new government funding."

He explained that some of this funding would go to small businesses in order to improve the UK's cyber security.

"We are working to ensure that as many small businesses as possible win contracts to help build our cyber security infrastructure, supporting the next generation of cyber assurance technology as well as innovation and growth in our economy.

"We want to make the UK the pre-eminent, safe space for e-commerce and intellectual property online."

Hague explained that in order to achieve this, new forms of international collaboration would be required.

"The international dimensions of the misuse of digital networks also require new forms of co-operation and collaboration, especially as the internet changes."

Hague went into some detail around his concerns about increasing cyber attacks from foreign states. His comments follow Ian Lobban's, director of the government's listening agency GCHQ, statements yesterday in which he said that both UK businesses and the government have suffered increasing levels of this form of attack.

"It is increasingly clear that countries with weak cyber defences and capabilities will find themselves exposed over the long term, and at a serious strategic disadvantage given the apparent rise in state-sponsored attacks," said Hague.