Britain urged to shore up cyber defences

Monitoring web traffic or offering financial incentives to encourage countries to protect systems could improve national security

Security experts have warned that the UK needs to act fast in implementing proper defences against cyber attacks.

The possibility of a attack that could cause serious distress to the UK government and industry is increasingly likely, according to GCHQ director Iain Lobban.

The threat profile was raised last week at the RSA Conference Europe, when Lobban advised national security agencies to work with internet service providers to mitigate a potential attack. Lobban suggested that ISPs provide a direct feed of information to GCHQ to make the government intelligence agency aware of attacks as soon as they happen.

The strategy would require a different sort of partnership between national security agencies and key industry players, he said, with systems being more interconnected.

Also at the RSA Conference, former White House advisor Richard Clarke urged the European Union to work with the US to clamp down on nation states that allow hackers to carry out attacks from within their borders.

Clarke suggested that an international organisation could filter the internet traffic in the troublesome states.