26/06/2012

MI5 Face 'Aggressive' Cyber-Attacks

The MI5 has warned of the increasing threat of cyber espionage and cyber crime to the UK.

Jonathan Evans, the Director General of the Security Service, gave an address titled "The Olympics and Beyond" at the Lord Mayor’s inaugural annual Defence and Security Lecture.

Speaking at the Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London, Mr. Evans highlighted MI5's security preparations for the Olympic Games and the continuing threat posed by terrorism.

Mr Evans spoke of MI5's efforts to tackle "industrial-scale processes involving many thousands of people lying behind both state sponsored cyber espionage and organised cyber crime".

"Vulnerabilities in the internet are being exploited aggressively not just by criminals but also by states," he said."The extent of what is going on is astonishing."

"This is a threat to the integrity, confidentiality and availability of government information but also to business and to academic institutions," Mr Evans said.

"What is at stake is not just our government secrets but also the safety and security of our infrastructure, the intellectual property that underpins our future prosperity and... commercially sensitive information."

"This is a threat to the integrity, confidentiality and availability of government information but also to business and to academic institutions," Mr Evans said.

Historically Russia and China have been cited as the countries most involved in state-based attack.

Mr Evans concluded with the hope that by highlighting the issues for his audience, they would have a better and more accurate understanding of the nature and context of the security risks currently faced by their organisations and the UK.

(GK)


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