Government Repeats Announcement on Cyber Security Investment One Year Later

The government will increase its cyber security expenditure by £1.9bn, just one year after an announcement was originally made. It has said that the move is part of its cyber security plan.

The money is not new, however. George Osborne, Chancellor at the time, delivered a speech on the November 17, 2015, when he said that the government had placed cyber security among its top priorities, and announced the very same investment.

In that speech, Osborne said that he made a provision in the government’s spending review to increase cyber security spend by close to 100% over a five-year period in order to protect the UK from cyber attacks.

Chancellor Philip Hammond said in a recent statement:

“Our new strategy, underpinned by £1.9bn of support over five years and excellent partnerships with industry and academia, will allow us to take even greater steps to defend ourselves in cyber space and to strike back when we are attacked.”

The government said that the investment would fund automated defences against cyber threats in order to protect citizens, as well support the cyber security sector.

The UK’s businesses also need to be willing to spend more in this area if they value the safety and future of their company. By making more cyber security jobs available to those trained to defend against an attack, business owners could very well save their company from disastrous consequences and beef up their levels of business protection.