Britain to spend £650m on cyber security

And will set up a UK Defence Cyber Operations Group

£650m will bolster the UK's defence against cybercrime

Britain is to spent £650m on a new cyber security programme, as part of sweeping reforms to the UK's defence capabilities.

Cameron announced the spend in a speech in the commons today. He said: "This money will significantly enhance our ability to detect and defend against cyber attacks and fix shortfalls in the critical cyber infrastructure on which the whole country now depends."

The Strategic Defence and Security Review published yesterday promised to transform the UK's cyber capabilities by establishing a UK Defence Cyber Operations Group as part of a transformative cross-government approach.

Its job will be "to provide a cadre of experts to support UK and allied cyber operations, thereby securing vital networks and guiding the development of new cyber capabilities".

The Group will work with other government departments and industry to ward off cyber crime.

Further unspecified new funding will go towards overhauling the approach to tackling cyber crime. This will include the establishment of a single point of contact for reporting IT crimes; it will also bolster the UK's critical infrastruture and establish stronger international alliances, including a new UK-US Memorandum of Understanding on sharing information. This Memorandum of understanding will improve cyber security skills and education and sponsor international research.

The announcement follows the decision of the National Security Council to rank the threat of cyber attacks as 'Tier 1', alongside terrorism, natural disasters and conventional warfare.