Industry needs to cooperate with government on cyber security, says minister

Ed Vaizey, digital economy minister, will write a letter to UK FTSE 350 companies as a reminder of their responsibility to ensure that adequate cyber security procedures are in place. They will also be encouraged to play a role in the annual government Cyber Health Check.

Vaizey spoke at the recent Intel UK and Ireland Security Summit, where he said that handling cyber security issues is a joint venture between industry and government, and that the government is not prepared to work with firms that fail to establish cyber security procedures.

He said:

“It’s obvious that cyber security underpins our entire economy now. We live in a digital economy and therefore we need robust cyber security to keep our businesses secure, keep our citizens safe and make our public services work.”

After the recent breach at TalkTalk, Vaizey said that the hack was a lesson in how companies should protect themselves. He vowed to reach out to the FTSE 350 to emphasise the importance of being involved in the latest Cyber Health Check, which is a yearly evaluation of their procedure for cyber governance.

Whether FTSE 350 companies respond to Vaizey’s satisfaction remains to be seen, but those that don’t may come to regret it, based on the number of high-profile attacks making headline after headline. One thing such companies may need to work on is their IT security recruitment policy, as this is an area likely to be investigated under the health check.