IET warn of “real and growing threats” regarding UK cyber security

Cyber security comment from IET for publication:

Following publication of the Defence Select Committee report on cyber security, IET Fellow Hugh Boyes said: “The UK has been proclaimed as the ‘most internet-based major economy’. This obviously provides a rich and fertile basis for industry, and small businesses in particular, to expand and grow.

“However, there continues to be real and growing threats to our interests in cyberspace and these have increased with the growth of the ‘internet economy’.

“This issue is made worse by a lack of suitable professionals who can help us to combat the issues associated with cyber security.  This situation will be exacerbated if we do not take urgent action now to fill the skills gap.

“At the Institution of Engineering and Technology we have been working with the Cabinet Office to ensure we have a better mix of skills for the future.  One of the ways we intend to do this is by building software engineering best practice into undergraduate university degrees and encouraging more students to undertake postgraduate study of cyber security.

“With a bigger pool of suitably qualified graduates we can improve cyber security by making software more secure, dependable and reliable.”