Speaking at the recent Cipher Brief Annual Threat Conference, head of GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) Sir Jeremy Fleming revealed that he wants to actively go after cyber criminals and, where relevant, their state sponsors or supporters, to make the practice less profitable and therefore less appealing.
“We have to be clear on the red lines and behaviours that we want to see. We’ve got to go after those links between criminal actors and state actors and impose costs.
… we’re quite a long way off really addressing the profit model which is making this just so easy for criminals to exploit at the moment”
Sir Jeremy Fleming, Director, GCHQ
Sir Jeremy said during his speech that the current geopolitical situation provided a “moment of reckoning … [for] like-minded Western liberal nations to make sure that the technologies on which we all rely encompass our values, are secured by design, have been subject to the standards and regulations that we approve of, because we think that they do promote our prosperity and our values.”
AI and machine learning offer the security services much in the shape of tools to fight the problem of cyber crime and particularly ransomware, adding that states that are less than favourable towards the West are already pressing ahead with their developments and we should keep pace.
“If you think that the changes we’ve seen from coronavirus are significant wait till you see the way in which machine learning and AI are going to affect our labour markets. We’re faced with a set of adversaries now that invested very heavily in their own research, have made major investments in skills, have procured capabilities in a perfectly legitimate way globally and have won the trade battle because the products have been pretty good.”
Sir Jeremy Fleming, Director, GCHQ
In a ‘together we are stronger’ message, Sir Jeremy made a plea for a genuine public-private partnership with international support so that we are not just reliant on the usual secretive and covert suspects to protect us at this crucial time in our history.
“It’s not rocket science to defend against this sort of stuff. it’s not rocket science to defend against this sort of stuff. We know that if you do fairly basic cyber security, if you are really clear at an organisational level about things that you need to protect, and if you are very diligent in implementing the guidance of your cyber security professionals and your technology partners, then you’re going to protect yourselves or at least make you harder than competitors and therefore you won’t be as much of a target.”
Sir Jeremy Fleming, Director, GCHQ
Source: The Register
Informed Sauce is hosting an Infinidat-sponsored event in London on 2 December about protecting businesses from cyber crime.
Short talks from the Metropolitan Police, a military-trained cyber threat expert and sponsor Infinidat’s EMEA Field CTO will be followed by a panel-led, room-wide moderated discussion, with plenty of opportunities for you to contribute your thoughts and ask questions.
Visit the event microsite for more details and to sign up.