Skill sharing a matter of national security, says former Home Secretary

A politician who once served as Home Secretary talked recently about the necessity of sharing skills and information to combat cyber crime.

David Blunkett spoke at the London-based (ISC)2 EMEA Congress and discussed the fine line that exits between protecting both internet privacy and national security.

A victim of hacking in the News of the World scandal when the publication revealed details of an affair, Blunkett responded by resigning from office in 2004.

The Labour politician said:

“I don’t know anyone who says that their privacy shouldn’t be protected.

“Frankly, the idea governments can’t protect themselves is risible.”

While he referred to Edward Snowden as a thief and a traitor, he said the whistleblower – who leaked thousands of data records on UK and US government surveillance – had opened the debate of cyber security.

Blunkett said during the conference:

“Sometimes people do things for the wrong intention, or for the right intention but in the wrong way.”

Whether Blunkett’s recommendations are heard and put into practice remains to be seen. In the meantime, there is more that SMEs can be doing in order to increase their online security and protect their data. There are more and more trained cyber professionals graduating from various courses all the time, and each one has something to add to any firm that handles online data. Creating cyber security jobs and employing these professionals would certainly be a proactive move in combating cyber crime.