The UK government has announced that it has the ability to launch cyber attacks but does not use it for industrial espionage. Security Minister, Lord West, also confirmed that the UK faced co-ordinated cyber attacks “on a regular basis” from other countries, including Russia and China.
It has long been suspected that a number of nations have engaged in cyber attacks; often to gain commercial advantage for home grown companies. Lord West has said that the UK does not engage in industrial espionage but refused to be drawn of whether cyber attacks were used for military or diplomatic purposes.
Lord West stated that the UK had recruited a team of former hackers for its new Cyber Security Operations Centre, based at GCHQ.
Civil liberties campaigners are concerned as to whether these developments will lead to an extension of the government’s invasive counter-terrorism powers although the government has stated that the unit will not “be used to spy on ordinary people.”
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