[ISN] MI5 chief: Cyber spying 'relatively straightforward' to beat

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/17/mi5_cyber/

By Chris Williams 
The Register
17th September 2010

Jonathan Evans, the head of MI5, has claimed the internet has made the 
threat of espionage by foreign countries higher than ever before, but 
insisted it is "relatively straightforward" to block attempts to steal 
data.

"The overall likelihood of any particular entity being the subject of 
state espionage has probably never been higher, though paradoxically 
many of the vulnerabilities exploited both in cyber espionage and 
traditional espionage are relatively straightforward to plug if you are 
aware of them," he said.

The common sense call is relevant to ongoing work by the year-old Office 
of Cyber Security in the Cabinet Office to improve basic information 
security across government and in businesses.

MI5, officially known as the Security Service, is responsible for 
counter-espionage. Evans has previously written to the bosses of big 
British companies to warn them of the threat online, particularly from 
hackers with links to the Chinese intelligence services.

Cyber security is a key issue for the ongoing Strategic Defence and 
Security Review, which is due to report next month. Following the first 
national Cyber Security Strategy last year, efforts to protect UK 
networks and data are expected to receive a large budget boost, against 
a background of cuts to other areas of defence and security.

[...]


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