{"id":81967,"date":"2017-06-27T14:18:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T14:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=666c85e20f73fdcb3ec0c8ae80af7fa5"},"modified":"2017-06-27T14:18:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-27T14:18:00","slug":"speech-defence-secretarys-speech-at-cyber-2017-chatham-house-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=81967","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Defence Secretary\u2019s speech at Cyber 2017 Chatham House Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Good afternoon, and thank you again to Chatham House for putting on this very timely event at a timely moment. Last Friday we saw the United Kingdom hit by yet another cyber attack, this time directed against our Parliamentary IT facilities.<\/p>\n

Investigations so far have found that the hackers were attempting to carry out a sustained and determined attack on all parliamentary user accounts in an attempt to identify weak passwords and to gain access to users\u2019 emails.<\/p>\n

Immediate steps have been taken to address that particular problem.<\/p>\n

It has meant that\u00a0some Members of Parliament and staff have been temporarily unable to access their email accounts outside of Westminster.<\/p>\n

As MPs, some have been unable to answer constituents\u2019\u00a0emails\u00a0on a Sunday, and we\u2019ve had to live with that.<\/p>\n

Since then, the\u00a0National Cyber Security Centre has been working around the clock with\u00a0our\u00a0UK Parliamentary Digital service to understand the nature of the attack, to contain it, and\u00a0to\u00a0put in place mitigation measures to prevent possible future breaches.<\/p>\n

Now, this latest\u00a0attack\u00a0is far away from being an isolated incident.
\n\u00a0
\nIt follows hot on the heels of the Wannacry virus\u00a0that didn\u2019t just shut down NHS operating theatres, but in the end affected more than 200,000 people over 150 different countries.
\n\u00a0
\nSo\u00a0here was yet more evidence that cyber is a truly global phenomenon, evidence that has been\u00a0piling up\u00a0following\u00a0the\u00a0attacks on\u00a0Germany\u2019s lower house of Parliament.<\/p>\n

Bulgaria has also suffered, and I quote from them, according to their President, \u201cthe heaviest and most intense cyber attack\u2026conducted in south-east Europe.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0
\nAnd of course, there have been attacks on America, with the\u00a0United\u00a0States\u00a0Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluding that Russia had targeted the Presidential election.<\/p>\n

I quote, its \u201cintelligence services conducted cyber operations against targets associated with the 2016 US presidential election, including targets associated with both major US political parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

All these attacks point to our adversaries becoming more diverse, becoming better at what they do, and becoming more adept at using virtual attacks to inflict very real damage.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nOne in five British businesses\u00a0has been hacked by cyber criminals in the\u00a0last year according to the British Chambers\u00a0of Commerce.
\n\u00a0
\nAnalysts put the cost to our economy\u00a0already\u00a0in the billions, while it\u2019s been estimated that the United\u00a0States lose up to 3 per cent of GDP to Intellectual Property theft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the military, the consequences of cyber disruption are equally devastating.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nReuters\u00a0has\u00a0reported that Russia used malware implants on Android devices to track and target Ukrainian artillery.
\n\u00a0
\nThat\u2019s why back in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review we put cyber up there with\u00a0terror and\u00a0major natural hazards as a Tier One threat to this country.
\n\u00a0
\nTo date, alarming as\u00a0some\u00a0these attacks have been, our people have proved equal to the task of defending against them.
\n\u00a0
\nFewer than 1 per cent of the 9,000 email accounts on the parliamentary network were compromised.
\n\u00a0
\nBut there is absolutely no\u00a0complacency here.<\/p>\n

We are investing a huge chunk of money \u2013 some \u00a31.9bn\u00a0\u2013 into boosting our cyber security
\n\u00a0
\nAnd Defence, in particular, has a three-fold role to play in this national cyber security effort.<\/p>\n

Keeping our house in order<\/h3>\n

\u00a0
\nFirst and foremost,\u00a0we\u2019re keeping our digital house in order.
\n\u00a0
\nWe\u2019re not just working closely with the National Cyber Security Centre to ensure that our military and civilian systems are robust.<\/p>\n

We have networks of information risk and asset owners embedded in our organisation to properly police data and to deal with problems.<\/p>\n

And we\u00a0are encouraging all our staff to observe good cyber etiquette.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They must now complete mandatory information handling refresher training annually and they must take personal responsibility for their data.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re also doing more to recruit the cyber savvy.
\n\u00a0
\nThere\u2019s our cyber reservists, experts from industry and academia who\u00a0are\u00a0putting their high tech skills at the service of the nation by weeding out network vulnerabilities.
\n\u00a0
\nAt the same time, we\u2019re building up a new\u00a021stcentury Cyber Corps, a band of expert volunteers, leaders in industry, who are going advise us on how to keep ahead in the cyber space race.
\n\u00a0
\nFinally, cyber is becoming now a core part of our military training.
\n\u00a0
\nIn January,\u00a0we will open a dedicated state-of-the-art Defence Cyber School at Shrivenham, bringing together all our military joint cyber training into one place.
\n\u00a0
\nAnd we look forward to that first class of 2018 emerging with the digital X-factor to transform our future cyber capability.<\/p>\n

Creating a culture of resilience<\/h3>\n

\u00a0
\nSecond,\u00a0the interconnected nature of the web, the way it blurs the boundaries between military and civilian, between public and private, means we all have a responsibility to look after ourselves online.<\/p>\n

A stronger password here, a Windows update there, and we would have stood an even better chance of warding off the Parliamentary and Wannacry attacks.
\nSo\u00a0my\u00a0second point is that\u00a0the\u00a0MOD has a key role to play in\u00a0contributing to a culture of resilience.
\nThat\u2019s why we set up the Defence Cyber Partnership Programme\u00a0(DCPP) to ensure that companies\u00a0with whom we\u00a0have defence contracts\u00a0are properly protecting themselves and meeting a host of\u00a0cyber security standards.<\/p>\n

Strengthening our deterrence<\/h3>\n

But there\u2019s a third way in which we\u00a0can\u00a0protect\u00a0our national infrastructure, and that\u2019s by strengthening our deterrence.
\n\u00a0
\nSo we\u2019re using our rising budget to invest\u00a0our\u00a0\u00a3178bn in full spectrum capability, from carriers to Ajax armoured vehicles, fifth generation F35 to the latest UAVs, signalling to potential cyber strikers that the price of an online attack\u00a0could invite a response from\u00a0any\u00a0domain, air, land, sea or cyber space.
\n\u00a0
\nAnd when it comes to the latter, we\u2019re making sure\u00a0that\u00a0offensive cyber is now an integral part of our arsenal.
\n\u00a0
\nWe now have the skills\u00a0to expose cyber criminals, to them hunt down and to prosecute them, to respond in kind to any assault\u00a0at a time of our choosing.<\/p>\n

Our National Offensive Cyber Planning allows us to integrate cyber into all our military operations.
\n\u00a0
\nAnd I can confirm that we\u00a0are now using offensive cyber routinely in the war against Daesh, not only in Iraq but\u00a0also in the campaign to\u00a0liberate Raqqa and other towns\u00a0on the Euphrates.
\n\u00a0
\nOffensive cyber there is already beginning to have\u00a0a major effect on degrading\u00a0Daesh\u2019s\u00a0capabilities.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re determined as a coalition to maintain our advantage in this arena and\u00a0that\u00a0is why we\u00a0are investing with our allies in the sort of kit\u00a0capable of data use.<\/p>\n

To help create\u00a0a picture of the virtual battlefield we have recently\u00a0here in the United Kingdom launched a multimillion pound competition to develop machine learning algorithms\u00a0and Artificial Intelligence\u00a0which will assimilate this wealth of new data and\u00a0will\u00a0free up our personnel to deliver a more coordinated, targeted response.
\n\u00a0
\nThe first contracts\u00a0from that investment\u00a0have already been awarded to a variety of UK suppliers including from academia and innovative micro-scale businesses and other SMEs, all of whom are working on a range of solutions from rapid sensor\u00a0integration to predictive cognitive control systems.<\/p>\n

International partnerships<\/h3>\n

Cyber deterrence is obviously stronger when we stand together with\u00a0our\u00a0like-minded allies.
\nAnd\u00a0that\u2019s why we\u2019re working hard,\u00a0in particular,\u00a0to get NATO, the bedrock of our security, to do more to defend\u00a0effectively online.<\/p>\n

\u00a0At last year\u2019s Warsaw summit we achieved a breakthrough in getting the Alliance to recognise cyber as a distinctive\u00a0domain of operations.
\n\u00a0
\nWe also succeeded in persuading NATO\u00a0nations\u00a0to\u00a0sign the cyber pledge, committing Allies to enhance their national defences as a priority\u00a0and to strengthen their capability, collectively and individually, to resist cyber attacks in any form.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nThere remains work to be done to share our data to deal with major incidents together and\u00a0to\u00a0improve the underlying infrastructure of the Internet.
\n\u00a0
\nAt the same time,\u00a0we\u00a0will also\u00a0need\u00a0new doctrine to clarify our response\u00a0within NATO\u00a0to anonymous cyber activity\u00a0which often takes place\u00a0now\u00a0in\u00a0that\u00a0grey zone below the previously understood threshold of war.
\n\u00a0
\nAnd all the while we are developing the effects, covert and overt, cognitive and physical, to help provide a proportionate response to those cyber attacks.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0Alliance\u00a0effectiveness in the virtual world would be immeasurably enhanced if national capabilities were made ready to deploy in support of NATO operations.
\n\u00a0
\nSo having honed our own UK pioneering cyber techniques against Daesh in Iraq and Syria, I can\u00a0confirm today that United Kingdom is\u00a0ready to become one of the first NATO members\u00a0to\u00a0publicly\u00a0offer such support to NATO operations as and when\u00a0required.
\n\u00a0
\n### Conclusion<\/p>\n

So let me say in conclusion that cyber is a serious\u00a0problem. It is a\u00a0growing problem.
\n\u00a0
\nBut my message to you is\u00a0that\u00a0Government\u00a0here\u00a0and Defence, in particular,\u00a0is\u00a0on the case.
\n\u00a0
\nOver the next few years we\u2019re going to be redoubling our efforts\u00a0to\u00a0strengthen\u00a0our\u00a0resilience against our adversaries, to\u00a0strengthen\u00a0our hand against our\u00a0cyber\u00a0adversaries and\u00a0to\u00a0ensure\u00a0those who mean to do our country harm, offline or online, have nowhere to hide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon gave a speech at Cyber 2017 outlining how the Ministry of Defence is tackling today’s cyber threats<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81967"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81967\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}