Following their ongoing work surrounding the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), the Joint committee has published a report highlighting to the government the growing concerns about the UK’s widening skills gap in the cyber security sector.
The UK is facing a lot of questions, however, there is no shying away from the facts surrounding our cyber security framework or lack of. The Joint Committee has published a report on cyber security skills, highlighting the shortage of specialists and experts in this field and the impending threat that this has to the UK’s CNI.
The security of the UK’s CNI is essential in the workings and succession of the economy and society, which includes our health services, energy supply, transport, education, trade and logistics. Although the government has instructed a ‘skills strategy’ set to be published in December 2018, the problem that the UK faces is the lack of analysis, data and information around CNI sectors. The Joint committee’s report speculates that without this information the government does not have enough knowledge to be able to put into place what is needed to protect the CNI.
Margaret Beckett MP, chairman of the joint committee said:
“We’re not just talking about the ‘acute scarcity’ of technical experts which was reported to us; but also, the much larger number of posts which require moderately specialist skills.
We found little to reassure us that Government has fully grasped the problem and is planning appropriately.”[1]
The fact that cyber security is a new field and an evolving one, is nothing new, although, with statistic projections showing that cyber-crime damages could hit $6 trillion annually by 2021.[2] The government, as well as businesses, must train and upskill security professionals to counteract the gap between skillsets and demand.
As technology drives digitalisation across every sector and our society, the need for cyber security needs to be integrated into every aspect or level of our CNI sectors as well as every single UK business. Digitalisation has blurred the line between sectors, meaning that the cyber security of the CNI sectors is reliant on the cyber security of UK businesses. Not only will this help protect individuals this will also ensure the protection of the UK economy.
“Cybercrime damage costs to hit $6 trillion annually by 2021.”
– CSO Online
6 of the worst Cyber Security Attacks affecting the UK so far:
NHS 2017
WannaCry Ransomware attack, sensitive information (blood tests, medicine, history) compromised as well as 40 NHS Trusts and Hospitals unable to see patients.[3]
MyFitnessPal 2018
Under Armour reveal its fitness app had the usernames, email addresses, and passwords of 150 million people were stolen from its systems.[4]
Facebook 2014 (Full details exposed 2018)
Cambridge Analytica harvested an estimate of 50 million people’s information which rose to 100 million people by 2018 for data profiling.[6]
Dixon Carphone 2017
Dixons Carphone revealed 5.9 million payment cards and 1.2 million personal data records were stolen.[5]
Yahoo! 2014
Billions of email addresses, phone numbers, passwords and more were compromised. The Uk’s data protection watchdog fined Altaba £250,000.[7]
My Heritage 2018
92 million peoples username, passwords and more, was stolen and made public, although no DNA data was not. [8]
Is cyber security woven into every level of your organisation or businesses infrastructure?
SkillsFox is partnered with the world’s leading cyber security accrediting bodies such as EC-Council, CompTIA, and ISC2. As a business solutions specialist, they provide industry-leading content, courses, certifications and the real-life skills your team need to keep networks, programs, information and data safe – and in the right hands.
Citations
[1]https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/joint-select/national-security-strategy/news-parliament-2017/cyber-security-cni-report-published-17-19/
[2] https://www.csoonline.com/article/3153707/security/top-5-cybersecurity-facts-figures-and-statistics.html
[3]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39899646
[4]https://www.forbes.com/sites/paullamkin/2018/03/30/under-armour-admits-huge-myfitnesspal-data-hack/#400ebb4dcc54
[5] https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/dixons-carphone-hack-latest-details-stolen-credit-card-safe-what-to-do-a8396346.html
[6]https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election
[7]https://news.sky.com/story/yahoo-fined-250000-over-2014-data-breach-11402490
[8]https://blog.myheritage.com/2018/06/myheritage-statement-about-a-cybersecurity-incident/
