Government sharpens focus on cyber security

Speculated £600m to be spent on tackling cyber security

The Olympics could be a target for cyber criminals

The risk of cyber attacks on Britain has been cited by the National Security Council as one of four top threats requiring government attention.

It was placed alongside terrorism, a major accident, natural hazards such as floods and an international military crisis.

The National Security Strategy published on Monday by the Cabinet Office gave no clear indication how the four Tier 1 threats are to be faced and did not rank them in order of priority.

But widespread reports suggested the Strategic Defence Review to be released later today will contain £600m in additional spending, partly for improvements to GCHQ, the Government Communications Headquarters.

Senior officials denied Britain is having to launch a cyber defence capability from a standing start, and stressed that making it the highest priority does not mean it will attract the most resources.

But yesterday's National Security Strategy report said: "Business and government will need to work more closely together to strengthen our defence against cyber attack and to prepare for the worst, meaning if it happens, we are able to recover rapidly and keep Britain moving."

It also warned that further game-changing technologies such as artificial intelligence, advanced web applications and possibly quantum computing will become mainstream in the next 20 years.

The report added: "Government, the private sector and citizens are under sustained cyber attack today, from both hostile states and criminals.

"They are stealing our intellectual property, sensitive commercial and government information, and even our identities in order to defraud individuals, organisations and the government... unless we take action this threat could become even worse.

"For this reason cyber security has been assessed as one of the highest national security risks to the UK."

The report cited the increase in risk as being the result of growing dependence on the internet, with more interconnected devices on the planet than humans by 2015. It estimated the cost of cyber crime at $1tn (£632bn) per year globally, with most companies anxious about the threat of cyber crime to their bottom line.

The 2012 Olympic Games were cited as a likely target.