Too few company chief executives and chairs take a direct interest in protecting their businesses from cyber threats, according to new advice from the Government. In order to address the problem, government departments have joined forces with experts at GCHQ to target senior level executives in the UK's largest companies and provide them with advice on how to safeguard their most valuable assets, such as personal data, online services and intellectual property.
Cyber Security Guidance for Business was launched on 6 September at an event attended by FTSE 100 CEOs and chairs, ministers from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), Foreign Office, Cabinet Office and Home Office, and senior figures from the intelligence agencies.
Foreign Secretary William Hague, the minister responsible for GCHQ, said: "The UK is committed to building a secure, resilient, open and trusted internet. We are working with partners across the globe to ensure this vision becomes a reality.
"A networked world brings many advantages; but cyberspace – and cybercrime – knows no borders. Businesses must be alert to the dangers. Drawing on GCHQ's experience and working with industry, the Government is committed to helping reduce vulnerability to attacks and ensure that the UK is the safest place in the world to do business."
Business Secretary Vince Cable echoed his sentiments: "Cyber security threats pose a real and significant risk to UK business by targeting valuable assets such as data and intellectual property. By properly protecting themselves against attacks companies are protecting their bottom line.
Ensuring this happens should be the responsibility of any chief executive or chair as part of an approach to good corporate governance which secures a business for the long-term."
The new guidance has been produced by CESG (the information security arm of GCHQ), BIS and the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI). It builds on one of the key objectives of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy: to work hand-in-hand with industry and make the UK one of the most secure places in the world to do online business.
• IT fraud and other elements of cyber crime feature regularly in the pages of Your Expert Witness and a number of companies featured in the Expert Witness Directory offer advice and expert services on the subject. Picture courtesy of www.freeimages.co.uk