WIREDGOV

The UK needs and enduring and dynamic approach to cybersecurity, one that embraces continuous offensive operations to achieve an advantage over its adversaries.

In a recent parliamentary hearing on national security, Lord Sedwill, the former Cabinet Secretary and head of the UK Civil Service, cautioned that Britain cannot secure itself in cyberspace if it relies solely on resilience measures and argued in favour of ‘an offensive element to deterrence.’ His objective was to shift the government’s investment focus away from primarily resilience-building measures to meet the new defence spending targets set by NATO.

While we agree with that latter objective, we disagree with the proposed legacy approach of deterrence as the basis for British cyber strategy.

As the government releases a new National Cyber Action Plan in the spring, we urge a proactive approach be adopted that aligns with the operational reality of cyberspace. British cyber military and intelligence forces need to be postured on the front-foot, so they can out-think and out-manoeuvre those seeking to harm the United Kingdom. Such capacity should be developed under an operational and strategic framework of cyber campaigning, understood as continuous related cyber operations, which cumulatively and over time advance operational and strategic objectives.

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