Queen gives approval to government cyber security plans

In her recent speech, the Queen offered a confirmation of plans by the government to push ahead with the Draft Communications Bill, which also goes by the name of Snooper’s Charter.

The plan includes monitoring  terrorist communications online and maintaining public safety from cyber crime.

Giving her traditional House of Commons speech at the dawn of the latest government, the Queen described David Cameron’s intentions, with changes to technology largely invested in amending data collection legislation to monitor terrorists. The Human Rights Act, expected to be dropped, was given a last-minute reprieve.

It is anticipated that the Draft Communications Data Bill will ensure that ISPs in the UK will store huge volumes of customer data, and see that the information is available to security and government agencies whenever it is called for.

Cyber security was also mentioned. This could see the £860m Cyber Security Strategy – established some five years ago and currently pending review – subjected to more changes, although it appears it will remain a top-tier threat.

The Queen said:

“My government will undertake a full Strategic Defence and Security Review, and do whatever is necessary to ensure that our courageous armed forces can keep Britain safe.”

The fact that we are now seeing even the Queen talk about cyber security is telling as to how the topic is viewed in the UK. It is highly likely that the sentiment will trickle down to SMEs and create more cyber security jobs in the near future.