While most of us think that a cyber-attack is only dangerous in the sense that it can steal identities or business secrets, it can be absolutely devastating to any country, especially to Britain.
Britain’s critical infrastructure and all forms of communication could be brought down in a matter of hours if not mere minutes should a cyber-attack occur. According to an expert at BitDefender, a multinational digital security firm, this would be lethal for Britain’s water, gas and electricity services and could leave the country’s services crippled.
This is the reason why David Cameron recently announced plans to double the nation’s cyber-warfare budget in the wake of the attacks in Paris, which killed around 129 people. Finance Minister George Osborne said that ISIL are using the internet for recruitment, radicalisation, operational planning, and other nefarious deeds and that Britain needs to protect its infrastructure against cyber-attacks.
Anonymous, the shadowy group currently fighting a campaign against ISIS or ISIL, has taken several digs at the skills of its Islamic State rivals, vowing to exterminate them off the internet, but Catalin Cosoi, chief security strategist, has said that it would not be that difficult for ISIS to hire mercenaries who could launch a cyber-attack on Britain, and that this could cripple critical infrastructures, including electricity and gas supplies, mobile phones, and the water supply.
It is with this in mind that the British government’s shift in approach will mean a new emphasis on spies, Special Forces, drones, and experts trained at defeating cyber-attacks. Cameron announced that an additional £2bn will be allocated to fight ISIS, mainly in the form of a National Cyber Security Strategy that will include extra funding and 1,900 intelligence recruits. Spending on cyber security will be increased to £1.9bn by 2020, a National Cyber Centre and Institute for Coding will be opened and teaching of cyber skills at schools will also be encouraged.
Technology is great, but when getting our drinking water, without which we cannot survive, or getting water to our farmers to grow our food or to our industries depends on technology, maybe it is not such a great idea after all.
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