Gov to intervene in cyber security education

The Government is to launch a certification and guidance initiative in June to assist businesses in their understanding of cyber security fundamentals.

Westminster undertook an  evaluation of ongoing attacks, as well as feedback given by vulnerability testers, which discovered that some security channels are failing to be implemented.

A cyber security expert for the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), Giles Smith, said:

“The Cyber Essentials Scheme [is] aimed at raising the bar, which we assess to be pretty low.”

Smith spoke at a seminar in London on cyber opportunities and risks, where he announced that the programme is scheduled to commence in the first week of June.

He continued:

“The role of BIS within the national cyber security strategy is to enable growth by helping UK businesses to operate safely in cyberspace.”

Smith said that in order to achieve this, companies will need to integrate digital security with corporate governance systems, giving it equal priority to other business risks and providing assurance that the basics are being implemented.

Businesses will no doubt benefit from such an initiative and, in light of recent attacks, it is one that needs to be implemented sooner rather than later. However, security responsibilities should be handed to the right individuals within a company. Staff with expertise in other areas besides cyber security may have workloads that don’t lend themselves to extra tasks, in which case it may be time to advertise for cyber security vacancies.