WIREDGOV

The Cyber Growth Action Plan has been published.

Commissioned by Imperial College London’s Centre for Sectoral Economic Performance (CSEP) and the University of Bristol, the Cyber Growth Action Plan sets out the roadmap for the UK to reinforce its position as a global leader in cyber resilience and innovation. Laid before Parliament as a Command Paper, the report will feed into the Growth pillar of the UK’s National Cyber Strategy which is currently undergoing a refresh.

What’s the focus of the report?

The report focuses on the growth of the UK cyber security sector, while paying attention to resiliency and value for money. The stated aim is to grow a thriving cyber security sector that enables the UK to be the safest country online, whilst recognising a persistent challenge: that those who make purchasing decisions often do not see why they should be investing in cyber security.

It follows the identification of Cyber as a frontier technology in the Digital and Technologies sector plan of the UK’s Industrial Strategy. With all organisations depending more on digital infrastructures, cyber resilience is critical to enabling all sectors of the economy to grow. This wider economic growth, in turn, should help to fuel innovation and growth in the cyber sector.

What does the report call for?

The Cyber Growth Action plan puts forward 9 recommendations and 24 associated suggestions which outline actions for all parts of the UK cyber ecosystem including government and industry. Broadly, these focus on:

• Curating the UK’s cyber culture to drive growth and public participation in cyber skills and innovation.
• Putting leadership in the right places with industry-led national and place-based cyber growth roles.
• Building on the UK’s places of cyber strength to collaborate on sensitive topics, chosen technology areas and make time to create and anticipate cyber futures.

Further, the report emphasises the need for two core shared principles to underpin the recommendations – (1) to act as one team (industry, government, academia, investors, and civil society coming together to grow the UK’s cyber sector); and (2) to both recognise and act upon the connections between cyber growth, resilience and value for money.