High-ranking Army officer to lead £650m government security programme

Major General Jonathan Shaw is expected to be put in charge of the UK's cyber defences

A senior general has been appointed to take charge of the government's Defence Cyber Operations Group, which was set up in October last year.

Armed forces minister Nick Harvey announced the move in the Commons, claiming the UK has made "considerable progress" in its defence against cyber crime.

He did not name the "very senior military officer" who has been given the task "of transforming our approach over the next four years", but it is understood to be major general Jonathan Shaw, who retains his post as assistant chief of defence staff (international security and policy). He will work closely with the Cabinet Office.

Harvey, in reply to questions in the Commons from Harlow Tory MP Robert Halfon and Cotswolds Tory MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, said a new MoD's global operations and security control centre is now up and running and "we have commissioned a new monitoring system to detect cyber attacks against our defence systems."

He added: "You will understand if I do not comment further on the detail of the measures we take to protect our systems, but we are not complacent – we must outmatch a rapidly changing threat."

Harvey said the MoD is developing a joint approach with industry and that there had been discussions with BT and others about the risk of attacks from China because of BT's close links with the Chinese firm Huawei.

He said a relationship with the private sector had begun following a meeting with industry leaders at 10 Downing Street, adding: "It is essential that we have the maximum co-operation between the private and public sectors because many of the networks on which public services depend are managed under contract by the private sector."

He said good international engagement with allies was also essential, forecasting new memorandums of understanding with some of them "shortly".

The concern about BT's links with Huawei was raised by Halfon, who warned: "That could make us more vulnerable to cyber attacks from China."

Halfon said later he was concerned at BT's links with a company that was itself closely linked to the Red Army and urged the government to consider the need to separate BT's commercial activities from its management of Britain's telecoms infrastructure.

He told Computing: "There need to be very clear guidelines on whom BT partners with and who has control over our broadband infrastructure. This is something the government should be aware of."