A new cyber-security operations unit, based at spy central GCHQ, is to be created, the government has announced. The unit will be backed by a policy co-ordination office in Whitehall. And was announced as part of an “updated national security strategy”. Like something out of Spooks: Code 9, Lord Alan West, Home Office security minister, said the unit was looking to recruit young hackers with questionable pasts.
“You need youngsters who are actually deep into this stuff. If they’ve been slightly naughty, very often they really enjoying stopping others,” said West, according to Fox News.
The unit is aimed at stopping cyber-security breaches from “hostile states, terrorists, and criminals.” Gordon Brown said: “Just as in the 19th century we had to secure the seas for our national safety and prosperity, and in the 20th century we had to secure the air, in the 21st century we also have to secure our position in cyberspace.”
West also confirmed that the GCHQ-based unit would not just defend the UK’s cyberspace borders, but potentially could also be used in an offensive capacity: “It would be silly to say that we don’t have any capability to do offensive work from Cheltenham.”
Via Fox News
